Corrupt Elements
by PrehistoricEchoes
Summary: A new species has joined Council Space, bringing with them new technology based on a fascinating substance known as "Phazon". But, they are not the only ones from their corner of the galaxy, and not all wish to use the substance for good. The human colony of Norion goes silent, and Shepard is sent to investigate.What follows may bring the galaxy to its knees. AU
1. Prologue

Commander Shepard reclined in his chair, reading a short news report on his tablet in the mess hall of the Normandy SR1. It had been two short years since Saren's attack on the Citadel, and Shepard had been left with very little to do. His crew had drifted apart, pursuing their own lives after the battle. He had attempted to keep in touch with them. He had learned that Tali'Zorah had gone on to be accepted onto the Neema, and was working for her people once again. Liara had moved to Illium, becoming an information broker. Shepard had become worried about the asari, as her methods were starting to resemble some of her mother's actions.

Wrex had returned to Tuchunka for some reason. His responses to Shepard's messages were rather Spartan, leaving the commander rather in the dark as to the krogan's actions. Ashley Williams had been transferred to civilian detail on several missions, but remained in rather decent contact with Shepard. Her last email reported that she was going to the world Horizon for classified reasons.

Garrus, however had nearly dropped out of contact. His last message to Shepard was dated over a year ago. He had said he was going to the asteroid city of Omega in order to help the citizens there. That was it. Shepard worried that the turian had gotten himself into trouble—or worse.

Still, the former C-sec officer was stubborn, and it would probably take more than a few thieves, robbers, or mercs to take him down.

The Normandy had also been improved at the Specter and savior of the Citadel's request. The engines had been tweaked, making them more powerful. His quarters had been updated, making them a more comfortable living space. He also had added Thanix cannons into the ship's primary arsenal as per Garrus' request. The turian said that if he ever came back, he would help calibrate the engines for Shepard.

Engineer Adams sat across from Shepard, and was discussing more recent developments with Doctor Chakwas.

"So, you hear about the new drive experiments our new galactic additions have been showing off?" he asked the Doctor, smiling. "It puts some of our element zero cores to shame. I forget what they're using… Phazon, was it?"

The doctor nodded, but was not as enthusiastic about the developments. "I do agree that the substance produces great power, but it has had me studying for two years now trying to keep up with the medical science around it," she replied. "It's poisonous, and parasitic to organic lifeforms. Not exactly something I would want powering my ship."

"I don't know, Doc," Adams said. "What about you commander? You think we should get the Normandy a new Phazon core?"

Shepard shrugged. He had heard of the new technology, an advent of contact with a new race. In mid-2183—during Shepard's mission to take down Saren—a new race had opened a mass relay into Citadel space. The aliens, known as Phrygisians, had provided hundreds of new technologies to galactic civilization. Most of these technologies were based on the radioactive substance they called "Phazon", which was found on many of their worlds. Thanks to the abundant boons to the rest of the galaxy, the Phrygisians had been accepted onto the Citadel.

"I doubt you'd want to adapt the engines to work with Phazon," Shepard told Adams, smiling. "Remember how long the Alliance spent just trying to help with the stealth systems of this drive? No point in making another bleeding-edge drive out of a new substance."

Adams nodded. "I understand that," he said. "I wonder what Joker would think if we got one, though. It sounds like they have quite a kick."

"I still don't know," Chakwas said. "The Phrygisians have had access to Phazon for hundreds if not thousands of years. They may have built up a resistance to it. The rest of us have a rather poor track record with it though. I once observed a case of 'Phazon madness' in a trooper that had been to a mine once. The experience was… unsettling."

Shepard nodded. "Don't worry, Doctor," he added. "I doubt we'll be using Phazon in the Alliance any time soon."

Chakwas nodded. "Which is good, since it's still an unproven technology outside the Talon Spur. I don't think the Council should be so trusting of it."

Adams rolled his eyes. "It's just like any other tech, doc," he said. "It's meant to be used. Nothing more than glowing blue rocks to be plugged into starship cores and weapons to power them."

"Phazon growths are not rocks," the ship's doctor corrected. "It's cellular in nature, and self-replicating. It is a lifeform of sorts. That is why it is so dangerous around organics. It tends to use us to reproduce."

Adams frowned. "True…" He shuddered slightly, imagining what it would be like to have Phazon growing on oneself. He had seen pictures of marines with Phazon corruption on their bodies. Long, blue veins of the substance wrapped along their skin, with blue-colored bruises where liquid forms of the substance was pooling. It was never pretty.

"Commander," Joker's voice came over the intercom.

Shepard looked up. "What is it, Joker?" he asked.

"You have an incoming transmission from Admiral Hackett. You should come up here. It sounds pretty urgent."

Shepard nodded and stood up from the table. "I'll be there in a minute, Joker." He nodded to Adams and Chakwas as a goodbye, and began walked up the stairs to the bridge. The room was crewed sparsely—the Normandy had been operating on skeleton for the past year now. Hunting for geth was rather tedious and uneventful.

Shepard walked up to the large hologram of the galaxy that dominated the rear center of the bridge. The galaxy hologram pinged off.

"Patching in the admiral, Shepard," Joker announced.

A hologram of Admiral Hackett appeared. Even as nothing more than a column of intangible light, the admiral had a commanding presence. His age, uniform, and even his posture showed the authority he held in the Alliance.

Shepard saluted him.

The admiral returned it. "At ease, Shepard," he said.

"You called?" the commander asked.

"Yes," Hackett said. "A situation has developed. One of our colonies developed joint with the Phrygisians has gone silent. We believe it to be an attack."

"Do you think it has to do with the recent vanishings of colonies near the Terminus, admiral?" Shepard inquired.

"No," Hackett responded. "Before the attack, we received a transmission stating that vessels of an 'unknown profile' had appeared in system. Shortly after, a Phrygisian comm. buoy sent a single message: 'Space Pirates'."

"Pirates taking out a colony?" Shepard asked. "That's… unprecedented. It usually takes joint operations between massive groups of slavers for anyone to put a colony silent."

The admiral nodded. "That would be true if these were normal space pirates," he informed the commander. "We believe that the message is referring to the Zebesians, the other race that presides in the Tallon spur. They've been a problem before but they've never attacked a garrisoned human colony before."

"What do you need me to do, then?" Shepard asked.

The admiral answered, "I need you to go to our colony on the planet Norion. There, you need to find out what the Pirates want with our colony. Search for survivors. It is highly possible that the colony is just being jammed at the moment. With any luck, it can still be saved."

Shepard nodded. "I'll do my best, Admiral."

"I know you will, Commander. Hackett out."

The admiral's hologram disappeared and was replaced with that of the galaxy again.

"You heard him Joker," Shepard announced. "Take us to Norion."

"Already on our way, Commander," Joker responded. "ETA two hours. You better suit up. I doubt these Pirates will just lay down their guns as soon as we arrive."

Shepard nodded and walked back downstairs to retrieve his armor. This was his first involvement in the Tallon Spur—the area of space that the Phrygisians called home. He hoped that he wouldn't end up creating some sort of diplomatic incident.

* * *

_**Codex Updated. Transmitting data…**_

**Aliens: Non-council races—Phrygisians:** The Phrygisians are the tough, hardy residents of the frozen moon Phrygis orbiting the planet known as Bes. First making contact with the council in 2183, they have provided a rather large wealth of technology to the galactic economy. Due to this, they were swiftly granted an embassy on the Citadel, and have become fairly influential in the politics of Citadel space.

Phrygisians are tall, tough, and honorable aliens. Their society values the individual, but also focuses on the group, enforcing a strict chivalraic code and swift justice. Phrygisians who break this code are often excommunicated from social groups ranging from local to national governments.

The Phrygisians are responsible for bringing Phazon to the rest of the galaxy, as it has proved a vital part of many of their technologies for as long as their civilization has existed. It has proven to be their supplement to element zero and substitute for nuclear power, providing clean and efficient drive cores for their starships.

**Aliens: Non-council races—Space Pirates:** Although they call themselves 'Zebesians', Space Pirate has proven a much more reliable (and accurate) moniker. An enigmatic race native to the yet-to-be located planet Urtragh, the Pirates are a caste-based collection of species within a large family of creatures.

Space Pirate society seems to be based more or less on two tenets: "For Science", and "For Technology". They often raid starships or colonies for technology, resources, or simply because they can. Prisoners they take are used in the gruesome scientific experiments they perform. It is believed that this experimentation on their own race has produced the many variations of Pirates seen today.

Pirate variants include workers and soldiers; commanders; and leaders, each radically different from the other in outward appearance. Anatomically and genetically, however, the variants are not much different.

Like the Phrygisians, the Pirates have a high reliance on Phazon for their technology.

**Technology—Phazon:** Phazon is a strange, radioactive subject native to the Tallon Spur. Upon first examination, Phazon resembles blue mineral crystals, veins, and nodules. This appearance could not be further from the truth. Studies have shown that Phazon is actually an exotic, mineral-resembling lifeform. It is capable of self-replication using both inorganic and organic substances to fuel its reproduction. It proliferates faster on organic material.

When Phazon grows on animal life, it begins to consume tissue and replace it with Phazon matter. Eventually, surges of radiation from the substance begin to affect the nervous system, which can cause a type of violent insanity known as 'Phazon Madness'.

Phazon is also capable of mutating lifeforms' genetic codes, and can cause strange alterations to a species' genotype and phenotype within one generation. Oftentimes, these alterations will benefit the Phazon in some way. How the substance controls this is unknown.

Due to its dangerous properties, the Citadel Council has still not warranted its use on non-Phrygisian technology in Council Space.

* * *

**Authors Note:** Yeah, terrible name for a first chapter, I know. Well, at least its a start for the story though.

Yes, I do realize that some edits have been made to both canons before you start talking about that. The space pirates, while referred to as Zebesians are actually the Pirates from the Metroid Prime games (1 and 3, specifically). Other elements have been changed as well.

For instance, its 2185 and Shepard hasn't been gunned down by Collectors! Yeah, they're there. Just, not at the forefront of the storyline. Don't worry, Mass Effect 2 will tie into this storyline eventually.

Anyway, hopefully this crossover turns out pretty well. I've got a good outline and am ready to write. Hopefully I can get a couple more chapters out before school starts.

Anyway, please review and advise! I'll take all the help I can!


	2. Chapter 1: The Battle of Norion

Lord Ridley, self-proclaimed and defending leader of the Space Pirates, stood on the bridge of his flagship, a small frigate called the Orpheon. The ship was large compared to what the pathetic human Alliance called a frigate, but relatively small when compared to the larger ships in his navy. It suited the lord's needs, though. It had plenty of areas for hauling stolen technology and preserving animal life in stasis, and plenty of lab complexes that gave his men places to perform their experiments while on the go.

Another feature Ridley enjoyed was the beautifully massive view the Orpheon's bridge provided. The front of the room was rimmed by a large window several meters thick, providing the command staff with an excellent view of the battlefield. It gave him and his advisors a view to make decisions when holographic displays appeared to be exhibiting errors.

It also was rather assertive of dominance when one's opponent was willing to put himself in the most dangerous position just to show he expected to come out of the fight.

Ridley, being of the leader caste of space pirates, looked less like his subordinates and more like a ten foot tall medieval dragon or gargoyle. He had a long head reminiscent of a prehistoric pteranodon, and deep, piercing orange eyes. His skin was a shade of deep, blackish purple. He wore light, form-fitting armor colored black, ultimately blending with his skin.

The space around the ship was a mess, the lord observed. The human Alliance had put up a decent fight, but their small amount of ships here was no match for Ridley's invading fleet. He had brought five cruisers with him, which was more than enough. The massive ships, which looked like three long prongs extending from a cylindrical core and engines, had decimated the human ships in orbit. Now, his ships were preparing to send troops planetside in order to attack the colonies. And then came the bulk of the attack, but that was not for now.

Ridley pressed a button, activating the fleetwide intercom through which he relayed orders.

"Attention, all ships," he announced, gathering attention. "Assemble your ground teams. Prepare to attack the human's garrison. We need to destroy their anti-ship weapons before bringing in our gift." The Space Pirate Lord smiled and then added, "Kill all you want. Have fun."

He watched as hangar bays on his other ships opened and shuttles began to pull out, carrying hundreds of ground troops to take on the Alliance's ground forces. After that, the real fun could begin.

"Lord Ridley," an officer called, walking towards his dragon-like commander. His tone suggested that there was a problem.

"What is it," Ridley growled, somewhat annoyed.

"We have detected a new signature dropping out of FTL," the insectoid Pirate officer informed. "Its profile matches the description of the human starship known as 'Normandy'. The ship vanished off our sensors as soon as we detected it."

Ridley cocked his head slightly. "The fabled Commander Shepard's vessel?" he asked, a menacing smile crossing his ugly face. He had heard the stories of the so-called 'Hero of the Citadel'. Sadly for him, fancy titles would not be enough to take down the Space Pirates. "Well, let us see just how powerful this human can be. Let him land. Make his pilot think they're winning. The ground troops will let us see just how great this brilliant commander is."

The officer bowed. "It shall be done, milord."

* * *

Shepard, clad in his full N7 armor and breather helmet, stood on the bridge of the Normandy as it dropped out of FTL and into standard space. The blue-shifted light in front of the ship disappeared, replaced with a black field dotted with stars. Dominating the view, however, was the green-blue mass that was the Alliance colony of Norion.

The first thing the commander caught sight of was the five, massive ships in orbit. They had a menacing appearance to them, looking more like some alien undersea creature than starships. Their reddish black hulls were bristled with spine-like guns. Each ship was made up of three long, teardrop shaped structures attached to a cylindrical centrifuge where the man cannon and engines sat. Shuttles were buzzing out of hangars along the hulls, no doubt carrying troops to the ground bases to continue the assault.

Floating between their ships was the wreckage of the Alliance fleet that had been stationed over Norion before the attack. The burnt out husks now floated lifelessly about the ether, their hulls still glowing from whatever blast had hit them.

"Shit," Joker cursed. "Thank God for the stealth drive. When I heard it was Space Pirates I didn't think they'd be this powerful."

"You heard Hackett," Shepard said. "Evidently their race is known by that term."

"You know, they have to be evil to use the term 'Space Pirate' to describe their race," Joker quipped.

Shepard merely shook his head at the bad jest.

Suddenly, the comm burst to life. The transmission was filled with static, but was nearly readable.

"This is fl…miral Castor Dane…ained heavy losses…anyone out there…eat, is anyone out there?"

"Can you clear up the signal?" Shepard asked.

Joker began typing madly at the console, trying to get a fix on the transmission.

The feed broke through, almost static-free. "This is Fleet Admiral Castor Dane of the SSV Olympus. We have sustained heavy losses. Is anyone out there? Repeat, is anyone out there?"

Shepard pressed a button on a console, securing a link to the ship. "This is SSV Normandy, Admiral," he announced. "Do you need assistance?"

There was a moment of awestruck silence.

"Commander Shepard?" the admiral asked, stunned. "Never mind. We do need help. My dreadnought's been holding position over the garrison groundside trying to prevent those cruisers from getting down here. The planetary defenses are holding, but there's a hell of a lot of Pirates coming down."

"We're moving in to assist," Shepard said.

"Acknowledged," the admiral replied. "Head to exterior docking area alpha. That should have enough space for the Normandy to land. You'll need to meet up with the marines in the base and help defend it from the pirates. With luck, those cruisers might make a run for the base and we can take them out with the main defense weapons."

Shepard nodded. "On our way," he said, closing the transmission. "Joker, take us in nice and quietly," he ordered.

The pilot nodded. "You know, don't you think it would be better if you, you know, had a crew or something to take with you?" he asked.

Shepard frowned. Ever since his own crew had drifted apart, most of his help came from Alliance marines that would transfer to the Normandy. They were usually brought in for just one mission, leaving Shepard relatively alone when intercepting distress calls. It was times like these when he really began to miss his old crew.

"Looks like I'll have to go it solo on this one," Shepard said. "With luck, there'll be people down there who can give me a hand. I doubt they'd make one person hold off an invasion force."

Joker nodded. "Just stay safe down there, commander. The last thing I need is you dying on my watch. Doesn't look good on a résumé."

Shepard turned to head for the cargo bay. From there, he would exit into the Norion base.

The Normandy passed through Norion's atmosphere and flew down over the base. The base had been shambled together rather quickly in about a year. It was made up of a central spire that stood in the middle of a large sinkhole. Level with the surface stood four large landing platforms with an overhang just high enough to allow frigates to land. Outside the landing platforms were generator and weapons facilities, upon which sat the GARDIAN laser defense towers. Floating above the southwestern corner of the base was the SSV Olympus.

The battle was already raging when the Normandy arrived. Space Pirate shuttles were attempting to land troops all about the firebase. Many were getting gunned down by the golden beams fired by the GARDIAN lasers, but others were able to slip past and offload their troops. Shots and explosions were visible across the base.

Joker eyed the 'exterior docking area'. It was just large enough to fit the Normandy in, and it would take a skilled pilot to slip into that tiny makeshift hangar.

"Gonna be a tight fit, Commander," the pilot said into the intercom. "We're going in!"

The Normandy banked towards the docking bay. The Pirate ships zipping around the skies above the base seemed to ignore the new frigate, instead focusing more on the few Alliance fighters that were attempting to take down their shuttles.

Joker slipped the starship into the docking bay and brought it to a halt. He pressed a button to open the hangar bay on deck three.

"Alright commander, you're clear," he told Shepard.

Shepard watched as the door to the hangar slowly lowered itself, becoming a gangplank to the ground. He grabbed his M-97 Viper sniper rifle off his back and readied for battle. He checked his omni-tool to ready his tech powers, and then rushed off the hangar and onto the landing platform.

A marine was already there to meet him. He wore standard-issue Alliance armor, but it appeared slightly modified. The visor was blue, and obscured his face. It was also colored a rather iridescent grey rather than the usual dull off-white of most Alliance armorsuits.

"Shepard!" the marine shouted. "Gunnery Sergeant Benet, at your service. Admiral Dane told me you were on your way."

"What's the situation?" Shepard inquired.

The sergeant waved for Shepard to follow, and quickly began leading him towards the spire in a run.

"Bad," the marine replied. "The pirates are trying to take down the main defense cannon on top of the central spire. They're going for the generators. We've been able to hold them off at alpha and gamma, but generator beta's been hit hard. If we lose even one, the GARDIANs shut off and the main gun becomes inoperable."

"Main gun?" Shepard asked.

"At the top of this spire is high-powered Thanix cannon," the marine explained. "It's meant for taking out larger ships that attack the colony. If it goes down, I'd wager that those Pirate cruisers are gonna make a run for the planet."

Shepard nodded. "Is anyone defending beta?" he asked as they entered the spire.

The marine lead him through the spire towards the entrance to the beta landing platform and the path to the generator.

"There was a squad of marines over there earlier, but they haven't reported in in a long while," Benet reported. "But I think that Phrygisian merc went to help 'em out. If he's still alive, he'll be there."

"Phrygisian merc?"

"Yeah," the gunnery sergeant responded, stopping in front of a circular door. "The brass wanted him to go after some biotic convict or something. Looks like there's been a change of plans."

The marine pressed a button on the door, opening it.

"I've got orders to seal the spire after you leave. My squad's been assigned to defend the main tower at all costs. The admiral says you need to go stop the Pirates from taking that generator."

Shepard nodded. "Will do. Good luck sergeant."

The commander ducked out the doorway, which shut quickly behind him. He observed the scene.

Crates were scattered along the landing platform, preventing larger ships from landing. They would provide good cover. Space Pirate shuttles buzzed about the area, attempting to offload troops onto the platform. However, someone was gunning them down with a strange energy weapon.

Shepard then caught sight of said someone. Standing in the center of the platform was the Phrygisian Benet had mentioned. He stood at least seven feet tall. His form was humanoid, but his body was more reminiscent of some sort of undersea creature. His body was covered in smooth, blue-black armor plates. His head was covered in a long, blue-visored helmet that obscured his face. Unless, that helmet was in fact his face. His hands ended in stiff, prong-like fingers. On his wrists were strange weapons that fired beams of energy similar to tech attacks—specifically, cryo blasts. The weapons seemed to be able to manipulate ice far better than the standard version most omni-weapons wielded.

Shepard rushed over to the Phrygisian.

"Commander Shepard?" the alien asked, looking down at the commander for a moment before firing a beam of blue-white energy at an incoming Space Pirate. The alien's shields flared and it fell to the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood," Shepard joked, taking cover behind a crate with the alien. "Who are you?"

"Name's Rundas," the Phrygisian answered. He quickly exited cover to launch a blast of ice energy at an incoming shuttle. The blast connected with the craft's nose, damaging several flight sensors. Robbed of its 'vision', the craft banked heavily to the right before colliding with the wall of the sinkhole. "I was supposed to accept a contract here, but plans seemed to have changed."

Shepard nodded. He saw a Pirate charging them and unleashed an incinerate blast at it. The fireball hit the alien, igniting its armor. The creature shrieked and hit the ground, trying to put the fire out. Shepard put it out of its misery with a well-placed shot from his sidearm.

"I was told you needed help defending the generator," Shepard told Rundas.

The alien nodded. "I usually work alone, but yeah, some help would be nice at this point. The marines made a break for it, hoping to get inside. They didn't last long. Pirates hit them with an aerial assault. Never stood a chance."

"Have the Pirates made it into the generator yet?"

"Not yet, but—"

An explosion cut Rundas off. The blast came from one of the beams overhanging the platform, which had been hit on the end near the generator. The structure groaned loudly and fell. Shepard and the merc leapt out of the way to avoid being crushed. The beam smashed into the platform, shaking the structure and nearly throwing the two off of it. Both hit the ground flat, dazed by the sudden attack.

A moment later, one of the strangely-shaped Space Pirate shuttles landed next to the generator entrance. Several troops exited the craft, entering the generator area.

Rundas and Shepard got up.

"Blast," Rundas cursed. He turned to Shepard. "We need to keep them from taking out that generator!"

Shepard nodded. "Any suggestions?"

Rundas raised the wrist with the beam weapon attached. He powered up the weapon and set it for a cryo blast.

"Just one, Shep," he answered. "Run and gun. Between the two of us, this should be a breeze."

Shepard admired the Phrygisian's confidence. He just hoped it wouldn't get the two of them killed.

Rundas ran for the generator entrance, his cryo weapon at the ready. Shepard pulled out his heavy pistol and set it for disruptor rounds. The two of them neared the entrance. Rundas tapped a hologram in the center of the door and then plastered himself against the wall as it opened.

A flurry of shots from alien plasma weapons greeted them. Luckily, not a single one hit, as both of them were in cover.

Once the plasma volley ended, there was a moment of confused silence. Shepard could hear the Space Pirates inside bickering amongst each other, unsure whether there actually were enemies waiting for them or that it was a simple systems glitch. They were no longer paying attention to the entrance any longer.

Shepard looked at Rundas. The Phrygisian nodded. Shepard returned it. The two spun into the doorway, unleashing volleys of disruptor rounds and cryo blasts.

Shepard's bullets caught one of the Pirates in the stomach. His shields flared, but the momentum from the bullet caused the alien to bend forward, grabbing its guts. Shepard let loose two more disruptor rounds into the Pirate's skull. The first ravaged its shields, and the second tore into its brainpan. The creature let out an alien shriek as it died. Shepard moved on to another Pirate, who was zeroing in on the commander with its wrist-mounted plasma weapon. The commander fired two rounds at its head, tearing through its shields and into its reptilian skull. The hostile alien's body hit the floor, dead.

Rundas quickly dispatched the other two aliens with two cryo blasts from his wrist-mounted weapons. The blasts completely ignored the aliens' energy shields, and the Pirates froze where they stood when the icy projectiles hit them. Rundas smiled and fired a standard energy beam at their frozen forms, shattering them.

"Like I said, a breeze," Rundas told the commander.

"That was too easy," Shepard replied. "There's bound to be more."

"I hope so," Rundas said, chuckling. "We could use the target practice."

Shepard nodded. The Phrygisian reminded him a little of Wrex on his mellower days. "Let's move in deeper," he suggested. "I'll do this quietly. You… you do what you deem fit."

"What are you planning to do?" Rundas asked.

Shepard responded by simply activating his tactical cloak, vanishing from view.

The Phrygisian shook his head. Then again, the commander was an infiltrator, not a vanguard or a soldier. Stealth and ranged tactics were his specialty.

Shepard watched as Rundas ran down the hall. The commander switched to his sniper rifle and set it for disruptor rounds. He quickly ran for the generator room, completely unnoticed.

Rundas had already engaged in battle when the commander reached the generator. The Pirates were putting up a good fight, but they were no match for the Phrygisian mercenary. Rundas' kinetic barriers flared as plasma bolt after plasma bolt impacted against his armor.

Shepard climbed up to a catwalk in the room and rested his sniper rifle on a railing. His cloak vanished as the first shot exited the rifle's barrel. The projectile slammed into the skull of a Space Pirate trooper, tearing through the tissue beneath and exiting through his jaw. The Pirate's lifeless body dropped to the floor.

Rundas fired a cryo blast at a Pirate, quickly taking that trooper out of the fight. He turned his attention to another one that was charging him. Before he could kill it, though, the Pirate's shields shattered and its head exploded. Rundas looked up to find Shepard scanning the room from the catwalk with his rifle. The Phrygisian nodded to him and turned towards another Pirate that was trying to take the generator offline. He charged it, catching the alien in on his shoulder and slamming it into the wall. He dispatched the alien with several shots to the stomach.

A lot like Wrex, Shepard thought.

The commander fired several more times, dropping two Pirates that were making their way towards the ladder to his catwalk. However, one managed to climb up to the catwalk and charged Shepard.

Shepard fired twice from the hip, but both shots missed. When the Pirate was less than a foot away, it raised its left arm. An ugly blade made of hard light sprouted from its wrist. It brought the scythe down, tearing into Shepard's shoulder armor. Luckily, the plates held, and the attack did not do as much damage as Shepard thought.

The Pirate brought back its weapon for another swing, but the commander was not about to let that happen. He activated his omni-tool, which quickly flash-manufactured a hologram-like blade on the device. He stabbed the dagger into the Pirate's chest, bypassing its shields and cutting into its heart. The alien's glassy eyes went blank as its soul left its body. Shepard withdrew his blade and kicked the Pirate's form over the catwalk.

The corpse landed next to Rundas, who was dispatching the final Space Pirate with a single, well-placed blast of ice.

Shepard shattered the Pirate with a shot from his rifle.

"Looks like they're all gone," Shepard responded, looking up from his rifle's scope.

Rundas nodded. "They were probably just a scout party that got lucky," he assumed, turning towards the generator. "However…" The Phrygisian paused for a moment. "Blast…"

"What is it?"

"Just got a notification from Benet," Rundas growled. "The Pirates have turned their full attention to the tower. They're trying to take out the main gun."'

"They must think that this team took the generator." Shepard said. "Now they're going for the primary weapon just in case."

"We need to move," Rundas suggested. "Race you there."

The two stormed through the generator hall and back onto the landing platform. More Pirates had arrived, and were clamoring for the entrance to the main tower. Shepard and Rundas began firing their weapons, and the hostile aliens' shields exploded as they dropped to the ground. Blue-black blood poured from their lifeless forms.

One Pirate turned from the door and tapped a button on its armored gauntlet. A shield of orange-glowing energy flickered to life on his arm. He held it up, and began firing from a notch in the shield. Rundas and Shepard ducked for cover behind a crate as the orbs of plasma hit the ground where they once were.

"How do you propose we deal with this guy?" Shepard asked, peeking out from behind the barrier to get a better look at the Pirate.

Like most of the Pirates Shepard had seen, this one stood about the same height as Rundas. It had ugly, mottled pink skin and a brownish exoskeleton. Its armor seemed too organic, almost merging with the Pirate's body. The shield was a large, jagged circle with veins of light extending towards its edge. A notch on one side allowed the Pirate to fire his wrist blaster without exposing himself from the shield.

Rundas let out a low growl and fired a cryo blast at the trooper. The blast simply froze to the shield and quickly melted, not affecting the Pirate in the slightest.

He knelt back into cover and thought. "How good are you with that rifle?" the Phrygisian asked.

Rundas' question gave Shepard an idea. He rested his sniper rifle on the crate and peeked through the scope. He centered the targeting reticle on the Pirate's hand in the notch. He held his breath. Time seemed to slow as he concentrated. Shepard squeezed the trigger.

The disruptor round sailed across the platform and slammed into the Pirate's hand, tearing through its fingers and boring its way into its wrist. The round's electric field overloaded the Space Pirate's weapon, causing it to explode. Plasma splattered onto the Pirate's gauntlet. The creature screeched loudly and waved its arm, trying to put out the plasma fire engulfing its limb.

Rundas fired another cryo blast. This time, the Pirate was not paying attention. The ice beam hit the center of its target's mass, instantly freezing it. The alien tipped over and shattered on the ground.

The infiltrator and the mercenary stood out from behind their cover.

"You know, we make a pretty decent team," Rundas said.

Shepard nodded, and they made their way to the door. Rundas opened the locked down door by charging through it.

Suddenly, their radio transmitters crackled to life. "This is Sergeant Benet," sounded the marine's voice over the link. "We're getting overrun at the tower elevator. We need help or else…"

The sounds of shots being fired and static finished the transmission. Shepard and Rundas knew something terrible must have happened, and rushed towards the elevator at the center of the spire's structure. With any luck, the marines might still be alive.

The two dashed through the facility, gunning down any Pirates that stood in their way. Luckily, none of them proved much resistance. They rounded the corner to the elevator, weapons drawn, ready to take on any Pirate forces that might be waiting them. What they found astonished them.

The room was littered with Pirate bodies. Their thick, blue-black blood was spattered on the floor and walls. In the circular elevator shaft stood the marines, seeming just as shocked as Shepard and Rundas at the Pirates' sudden demise.

"What happened here?" Shepard asked Benet.

"Simple," a stoical, feminine voice called from behind him. "You two were a little late. I picked up the slack."

Shepard turned to see a woman clad in orange and gold power armor leap off a beam near the top of the hall and land between him and Rundas. Her armor was civilian made, from the Kestrel armor line. But the armor was heavily modified from its original state. The shoulders were larger and rounder, with two small crests running across their tops. The chest plate jutted out further, and did not form to her chest like most armorsuits. On her back were two small jump-jets for assisting with jumps. The helmet, however, looked somewhat like an N7 breather, but heavily modified. The visor was larger than a normal helmet, and colored green. Attached to the arm was some sort of beam cannon, similar to the Space Pirate's weapons but completely engulfing her right arm. Along the legs, arms, and hands were glowing green lines.

"Samus Aran," Benet whispered. "What in the galaxy are you doing here?"

Shepard had heard that name before. Samus Aran was a famous bounty hunter and mercenary in the Tallon Spur. The commander had heard about her exploits across the galaxy. She had proven more than once that she was capable of taking on armies by herself. Stories were abundant about her devastating attacks against the Space Pirates. And she did it all for credits.

All the stories had lead Shepard to assume she was a highly trained turian or even a krogan warlord, but this female human, just barely the same height as he was, proved to be quite a surprise. There must be a lot more to her than the eye could reveal.

"Similar reason to Rundas here," she answered Benet's question, typing a few buttons on her arm cannon. The weapon retracted and folded onto her arm like a large gauntlet. "I was supposed to be contracted for a bounty." She then thought for a moment. "I better get paid for this colony defense," she told the marine. "It wasn't in the contract I was sent."

Benet shook his head. "Two of the most famous humans in the galaxy, right here…" he said.

There was no time to talk, though. An alarm began to resonate in the halls, and red lights started to flash on the ceiling.

The PA system chimed with the voice of an officer. A female officer began announcing, "Alert. Alert. Incoming, high-mass object."

* * *

Ridley stood on the bridge of the Orpheon, confident that his troopers would deactivate the colony's defenses in time. He had already heard that a squad of his troops had taken generator Beta, meaning that the garrison's main gun was offline. Everything was going quite well.

Nothing could stop his plan now. Not even this Commander Shepard.

"Bring it in," the lord ordered, turning to one of his officers working a communication's console.

The officer nodded and began typing at his computer.

A moment later, Ridley's true attack came. A colossal meteor left FTL not far from his ship. The rock was wedge shaped, like a V on its side, with long, rocky tendrils trailing behind it. The whole meteor was positively aglow with Phazon. The material was blazing in holes and nodules all across the object.

Ridley smiled. Things were now about to get interesting for everyone on the ground. His Leviathan Seed was on track to its new home.

* * *

"Commander!" Joker's voice came over Shepard's communicator.

"What's going on, Joker?" he inquired, shouting to hear his voice over the alarm. "There's a hell of a racket going on in here."

"The Space Pirates just brought in some kind of meteor!" the pilot shouted. "It's headed for the colony, not far from your position. Looks like something right out of a documentary on the Krogan Rebellions."

Rundas rushed up to a window and peered out. In the sky, he could see the flames from the gigantic meteor as it began to enter the planet's atmosphere. The fire was tinted blue as Phazon on the rock began to melt. The whole situation now proved to be rather unnerving.

"By the gods…" he whispered at the sight.

Samus wasted no time. The mission came first, and, while this was not her mission, she was obligated to do something. A colony was at risk. People needed protecting. She had a job that needed to be done. The huntress got onto the elevator and began to activate it. Shepard followed, as did Rundas.

"What now?" Shepard asked.

"I'm activating the Thanix cannon," Samus said flatly. "With luck, it will have the power to destroy the meteor."

Benet tried to get on the elevator, but Shepard stopped him.

"We need you to stay down here. Keep them from trying to come after us," the commander said. "The Pirates might try to make their way up the tower again."

"You might need help," Benet argued. "What if they already—"

Rundas cut him off. "Relax Benet, we'll be fine. We're the good guys, remember? Justice will prevail and all that stuff, right?"

Benet nodded. He was not as much conceding to Rundas' point as he was avoiding an argument with a Phrygisian nearly two feet taller than he was. Plus, Shepard had a point as well.

"Alright," the marine said. "Good luck up there."

Samus activated the elevator, and the platform began to rise up the tower. Within a few minutes, the group arrived at the top of the spire. The room at the pinnacle was rather large. At west-facing end were the controls to the main gun. The rest of the room was filled with consoles displaying targeting data and other schematics for the cannon.

Shepard and Samus immediately rushed over to the main computer terminal to activate the tower's defenses. The cannon slowly came online as the bounty hunter and the specter began typing in firing commands. Shepard wished Garrus were here. He might be able to get the weapon online. He was always good with weapons.

"Look out!" Rundas shouted, jumping away from the window. A second later, a Pirate gunship crashlanded through the tower, skidding to a halt in the center of the room.

The Phrygisian hunter pried open a hatch on the side and raised his weapon, ready to take on the troopers inside. Luckily, the vessel was vacant. It was probably remotely piloted. Just a final attempt to take out the tower.

"It's empty," he informed the others, quite relieved. He looked back inside and noticed a box in the bottom of the craft. He also noticed the flashing blue lights all across its silvery, metal surface. And he noticed the countdown on a screen on its top. The countdown currently read 'five' in Space Pirate numerals. Then 'four'.

Dread suddenly consumed Rundas' mind. "Phazon charge!" he shouted, leaping away from the ship.

The others did not have time to respond. The bomb exploded, unleashing a concussive blast and Phazon radiation into the room. The shockwave knocked all three of the warriors against the walls. They fell to the ground in heaps.

All but Samus were knocked unconscious by the blast. And even then, the Phazon in the bomb was making her suit's Geiger counter click wildly. The annoying buzzing of the monitor was the least of her concerns, however. The radioactive hazard was beginning to take its toll on her as well. She could already feel the substance's emissions getting to her.

The bounty huntress tried to stand up, but fell to the ground. Her legs would not provide the support she needed. Her heads up display showed her vital signs, which were somewhere between critical and redline. She dragged herself to the console to activate the Thanix cannon. Luckily, Shepard had nearly finished activating it. She gave the specter credit. Had it just been her, she would have to finish the commands—a task she no longer had the strength for. All that remained now was to finalize the order with the press of a single button.

Samus weakly reached up to the console and brought her finger down on the command key. It responded with a single, harsh beep.

A VI voice sounded from the console. "Activating Thanix defense tower. Targeting meteor…"

* * *

Ridley's eyes widened as the massive stream of white-hot liquid metal spewed into the atmosphere, heading for his Leviathan. The beam quickly blasted its way through the meteor, destroying it. Bits of rock and phazon blasted into space. Whatever pieces of it that were left would burn up in Norion's atmosphere.

Somehow, he doubted that Shepard had been the one to do this. However, one problem came to his mind. A certain, troublesome human that always seemed to follow him.

"Sir, the Leviathan has fallen!" an officer on the bridge shouted, shocked at the sudden defeat. "What do we do now?"

The dragonlike Pirate lord growled. This was not expected. Failure was not the intended option, and yet the troopers on the ground had failed at their task. Hopefully, they had paid for their mistake with their rotten little lives. If any made it back to the fleet, they would certainly wish that they had died in battle.

"Retreat," he ordered. "Call all ships off. Leave those useless ground troops where they lie. If they aren't back here already, so be it."

The operator nodded solemnly. "Yes, milord."

Ridley snarled as his ship turned away from Norion and entered FTL. The next time, he would succeed.

* * *

Samus rolled over and slumped against the console, letting out a semi-relieved sigh. The colony was safe. They had won. Cheers to her.

The huntress looked about the prone forms of Commander Shepard and Rundas. She was unable to tell whether they were dead or not. Her suit's computers only monitored her biosigns. Theirs were unavailable to her. She could hear Shepard's pilot shouting from the commander's helmet radio, trying to reach the commander through his deaf ears.

The bounty hunter began to think that the other two had it right at the moment. A long rest would do her good. Besides, the Phazon radiation was making her sick. Her head was throbbing from the blast. She could not retain consciousness anyway.

Slowly, she let the blackness take her.

* * *

**Author's Note: **And that's Norion for you. Wow, can't believe I finished it in one day. Still, turned out to be an okay chapter. Had to condense a lot of it though for time. I didn't want to make it too long to read.

And yes, I had to nerf Rundas' ice powers. As awesome as they were in MP3, they would seem a little to overpowered in the Mass Effect universe. I'm still kind of working on his weapons, and they may be subject to edit later on.

As for Samus, to keep her in the ME universe as well, I had to edit her character. She'll have a backstory though, and it shall involve Ridley. Those two are always connected. However, she wasn't raised by protheans or anything on Zebes. But that's for a later chapter.

And, (spoilers!) they live. What? I can't just end the story here!

Anyway, please comment, and (if you like), favorite it.

Thanks for reading!

**Update:** Alright, a couple quick things have been changed. The fights are a little longer, the descriptions have been touched up, and I've redone Samus' power suit to look more like her original one. Hopefully this will improve the chapter more.


	3. Chapter 2: Sowing Seeds

Shepard was very, very surprised when his eyes finally opened. His last memory was Rundas' warning and then the explosion slamming him against the wall. For a moment, he wondered if they had lost, and that the meteor had in fact hit the planet. Then again, he would probably be dead if that had happened. He looked around the room, but his vision was terribly blurry. He took a deep breath, and blinked several times. Slowly, his vision returned to his eyes.

Shepard recognized the room. He was in the infirmary of the Normandy. He moved, slowly. His whole body was remarkably stiff. Eventually, he was able to pull himself into a sitting position.

Chakwas approached him, astonished that he was even awake.

"Commander," the doctor said, rushing to his bedside. "Hold on Shepard, stay still."

Shepard did as he was told, still a little woozy.

Chakwas pulled out a small, handheld LED and flashed it into Shepard's eyes, checking his pupils' response to the light.

"Remarkable," she voiced. "You're doing pretty well for what happened down on Norion."

Shepard groaned, feeling his side. "What happened, Doc?" he asked.

"You and the mercenaries were hit with a Phazon charge," Chakwas explained. "And you got very lucky. Your armor was able to block most of the radiation and filter the solid particles. Had you not been wearing your helmet, the Phazon would be growing in your lungs."

Shepard remembered the blast.

"Where are the other two?" he asked. "How did they hold up?"

"They're both still aboard the Normandy," the doctor explained. "Rundas, of course, has a natural resistance to Phazon, so he made it out relatively unscathed. Like you, Samus' helmet prevented poisoning but she was up and about much faster than you." The doctor put her hand on her chin and rested her elbow in her free hand. "There is something strange about that woman," she mumbled.

Samus was up and about faster than me? Shepard thought.

"How long have I been in the med bay?" Shepard asked.

"A day and a half," Chakwas said. "I've been monitoring your condition ever since. Nothing seems wrong, but…" She pulled out an omni-tool and scanned Shepard's body for signs of Phazon poisoning or corruption. "Yes, you don't have any signs of corruption. However, you should get some water. You should be right as rain in a few hours."

"Doctor?" Joker's voice came over the intercom. "Is Shepard up yet?"

"He just woke up a few moments ago," Chakwas replied.

"Tell him to get up here, then," the pilot demanded. "I've been getting priority hails from Admiral Anderson for the last five hours."

"I'll be up in a minute, Joker," Shepard responded. He slowly rose to his feet. Surprisingly, he felt much better standing up. He cracked his neck and stretched his arms, helping the blood start to flow again. "You sure I'm okay, doctor?" he asked Chakwas.

She nodded. "Again, make sure you stay hydrated and you should be fine. Just don't try to storm into battle right away."

The commander nodded. "Thanks for the help, doc," he said.

She nodded and returned to her datapad, continuing work on something else.

Shepard left the infirmary and looked around. He could tell that they were somewhere in space, as he could feel the engines rumbling under his feet. After retrieving a drink from a dispenser near the galley, he found Samus sitting in the mess area, reading a datapa. She was still wearing her armor, including the helmet, and looked no worse for wear. However, her posture made her look somewhat… sad. Shepard could not tell how.

"You okay?" the commander asked, taking a sip of his drink. It felt good to wet his parched throat.

"I'm fine," the bounty hunter said in her usual, almost monotone voice. She set the datapad on the table face down.

"You remember what happened after the blast?" Shepard asked.

The hunter nodded. "You and Rundas were knocked unconscious. I stayed awake just long enough to activate Norion's defenses, and then I joined you."

Shepard smiled. So the colony was safe. The Space Pirates must have bugged out after their attempted meteor drop failed. They were heroes That was good news.

"How you holding up?" Shepard inquired.

She simply shrugged and then nodded left to right. Shepard guessed it was a simple 'I'm fine.'

The commander figured Samus for the quieter type. She was a stoic. The mission was always her primary focus, even when she was in between them. The datapad probably contained the data for her next contract.

"I'll be in the combat information center if you need me," Shepard informed her, turning to the stairs.

Samus simply nodded in the direction he was going. She waited a few moments. Once he was out of sight, she flipped up her datapad.

Written along the screen of the small tablet device was the almost three-year-old obituary of Alliance Commander Adam Malkovich.

Shepard walked into the bridge, heading for the galaxy map. He rubbed the back of his head, which was still throbbing. He noticed that the map was flashing, indicating an incoming message from the Alliance. It must have been Admiral Anderson.

Anderson had been a good friend of Shepard's, even though the two had not spoken much since the fight against Saren. Anderson had been promoted to admiral, and was often found aiding political situations with Councilor Udina. This worried Shepard, since when they did speak now, it was because Anderson was bearing bad news.

"Finally, Commander," Joker said through the intercom. "Anderson's alerting me again. I'm patching him through. Hopefully he'll stop calling after this."

The galaxy map flickered out, and was quickly replaced with a hologram of the Admiral. While he was not as imposing as Admiral Hackett (and was still a few ranks lower, as Hackett was a Fleet Admiral), he still was a commanding presence. His new uniform also helped reinforce that presence.

"Commander," the Admiral greeted.

"Anderson," Shepard replied. "Joker said you were calling."

"Yes," Anderson said. "And it's been growing more urgent with every hour unanswered." The Admiral shook his head. "Things are looking bad, Shepard."

"Reapers bad?" Shepard inquired. Two years ago, he and Anderson had become to sole voice of warning to the galaxy about the Reapers, an ancient alien race bent on wiping out all advanced organic life. However, after the destruction of the only known Reaper, Sovereign, their threat began to diminish. The council dismissed the Reapers as little more than a convenient lie for Saren to use to control the geth. Eventually, even Shepard was considering admitting defeat in the matter. No evidence of their existence had turned up since the attack by Sovereign on the Citadel two years ago.

The admiral shook his head. "No, but it may as well be," he answered. "After the attack on Norion, several other objects resembling the meteor you destroyed turned up across Citadel Space. Most of them were destroyed by planetary defenses, but one was identified before hitting a planet somewhere in the Terminus Systems.

"Which planet?" Shepard inquired.

"Haestrom," the admiral answered. "An old, abandoned quarian colony on the edge of geth space. Not exactly a nice place. The brass, however, wants you to investigate due to your previous experience with the meteor."

"There were a lot of others involved with that attack, Admiral," Shepard said. "Why not just pick one of the marines there?"

"Because they don't have a stealth enabled frigate to get them there undetected." The admiral then sighed. "I also have some good news, and some bad news."

The commander shrugged. He had had enough of bad news from Anderson recently. Nearly everything the newly-promoted admiral had told him was bad in some way. "The good, I guess."

"Well, the Alliance has reorganized the contracts of Samus and Rundas," Anderson said. "They're to be part of your crew for the remainder of this investigation."

"And the bad?"

"One of your former squadmates, the quarian, Tali, is on Haestrom," Anderson responded. "One of our stealth probes received several transmissions from the planet sent by her back to the Migrant Fleet. We have a reason to believe that they're looking for Phazon from that meteor."

Shepard was taken back by the news. Tali had said she was going to Haestrom nearly a year and a half ago to study the system's dying sun. She and her team had left the planet anyway, with evidence of dark energy affecting the star's core. The phazon had not even been of concern to most species then, much less the migrant fleet. Why hadn't she told him?

"Is there any other information on the area?" Shepard asked.

"The system borders geth space, Shepard," the admiral answered. "It's possible that they might have discovered them. You should expect resistance while you're there."

"I'll head out right away," the commander stated. "Take care, Anderson."

"You too Shepard. Anderson out."

The hologram of the admiral vanished and the galaxy map returned to its normal position.

"Joker," Shepard called out.

"Yes commander?" the pilot responded.

"Take us to Haestrom. I'm giving you the coordinates." Shepard typed in the planet's location into a pad near the map, sipping from his water. He wondered if Tali would rejoin the Normandy crew if he found her on the planet. They could use another hand down there.

"Will do commander. ETA, four hours."

"If you can, get us there as soon as possible," Shepard insisted. "We have a friend there."

"Right, right," Joker replied. "Like I can barter with relay control. They're a little up tight, you know?"

"Tell them it's for a specter mission," he suggested. "That might make them think twice about putting us at the end of the line."

Joker nodded. "I'll do my best, commander."

Shepard turned and walked down the stairs to inform his new 'squad' of the mission.

* * *

"What in blazes is a quarian?" Rundas asked, tilting his head sideways. The massive Phrygisian had never encountered Tali's species before, and was rather confused as to everything about the quarians and the geth.

Shepard knew he should have expected this. Rundas' species was new to the much larger galaxy. He no doubt had little time to read up on the history of every race, especially in his occupation.

"They're the ones who created the geth," Shepard explained. "A long story made short, the geth forced them off their homeworld and onto a massive fleet. Due to a rather poor immune system, they live most of their lives in envirosuits." He finished off the last of his second water bottle this hour. The doctor had recommended he not go into battle, but something in him wanted to be the one to save Tali. If she needed saving.

"So, they're kind of like those little moving kickballs?" Rundas asked. "The vulcan, or whatever they call themselves."

"Vol-clan, I think you mean," Shepard corrected. "We just call them volus."

"Can we save this history and culture lessons for later?" Samus asked, leaning on the mess hall table. Her armor was still on, showing no signs of removal. Shepard was beginning to wonder whether she ever took the suit off or not.

"I suppose," Shepard said, not exactly relishing the dissertation he was giving the Phrygisian. "Basically, shoot the things with the flashlights for heads, not the ones in the envirosuits."

Rundas shook his lengthy head. "And how am I supposed to tell them apart?"

"You'll know," Shepard responded.

"So what are we to expect while on this planet?" Samus asked, folding her fingers and making a steeple out of her forefingers.

"I'm not entirely sure," Shepard responded. "Most of the data we received was from a quick scan from a stealth probe. The one thing we know for sure is that there are probably geth there." He then thought for a moment, remembering what Tali had told him about Haestrom's dying star. "And that radiation from the sun can fry your shields."

"Good to know," Samus responded, leaning back into her chair.

"The sun can fry your shields?" Rundas asked. "You know, I wish that we simply stayed in our own little corner of the galaxy. Would have been so much simpler…"

Shepard shrugged and left to put on his own armor, leaving the two hunters to talk. Although he doubted Samus would actually hold any of it. She was always far too quiet.

Something about the hunter kept nagging at Shepard. And it was not physical attraction. He had not known her for more than a day, and she wore her armor the whole time. And her stoical attitude was… unsettling. Like she knew something but was not willing to let it out.

The commander found the maintenance shaft to the hangar bay. From there he would be able to pull his armor from its locker. Normally he would take the elevator, but he had gotten far too tired of the slow cargo lift long ago. Luckily, after the fight against Saren, he had discovered a tiny shaft that lead straight into the hall between engineering and the hangar.

He reached the equipment locker and opened it. His N7 armorsuit was sitting inside. The scar from the Space Pirate's scythe attack was still gauged into the armor's left shoulder. He kind of liked the gash. It looked rather intimidating, and did not cut into any vital systems. He was glad no one had repaired it.

The commander began putting on the armor. He looked around the empty hangar. It was rather lonely in the room. The Mako sat on the other side, unused for quite some time. Garrus had often helped maintain the vehicle, and had worked with Shepard on it before he left.

Shepard shook his head. It was hard to keep the thing in working condition after the turian had left. He now let the floor mechanics handle that duty.

Once he was done donning his armor, he made his way to the corridor. He got back up to the crew deck and sat at the table with the two silent bounty hunters.

This looked to be a long trip.

* * *

On Haestrom, the quarian engineer Tali'Zorah vas Neema typed away at a console, downloading data from the structure's ancient sensors to her omni-tool. The load was taking forever. Jacking three century tech to a bleeding-edge omni-tool was like trying to put a square block in a round hole and then attempting to download information from said round hole.

She had spent the last several hours calibrating the centuries-old colonial observatories sensors to help her gain data from the meteor. Her suit was too fragile and unprotected for the radioactive environment that the space rock was producing. This forced her to scan it from a distance, and the observatory had the only spectrometers and sensors to study the massive structure.

The quarian tried wiping her brow, but the visor of her helmet got in the way. She sighed, and continued with her work.

Suddenly, her communicator crackled to life.

"Ma'am, it's Kal'Reegar," said the voice over the radio. Tali knew the marine by his voice. They had been to this planet a couple times before, although this was the first time since the meteor hit. "The mining drones brought back a third crate of the stuff. How much more do you think we'll need?"

Tali picked up the radio. "Two more, at most," she replied. "I think the admirals will want as much of it as possible for future study."

"Do you really think they want this stuff for study?" Kal asked.

Tali knew the answer to that question, but she was not allowed to answer that.

"I'm sure they wouldn't keep anything about this from us," she lied.

"I'm sure of that too, ma'am," the marine responded, obviously detecting the lie. Luckily, he switched topics. "Just get us out of here before those geth arrive."

Tali nodded. The geth had been making periodic sweeps of the planet. She and her team had picked a timescale in between their sweeps to retrieve Phazon from the meteor via mining drones. Luckily, the robotic rulers of the world had not yet detected their presence. But time was slowly slipping away.

"Don't worry, Kal, we should be fine."

"Yes, ma'am." The comm. turned off.

Tali returned to her work. She was getting some very odd readings from the Phazon meteor. While the rock was already packed with the exotic substance, it also appeared to have an accelerative effect on the growth of Phazon in the impact crater, causing it to grow very rapidly.

There was the sound of a talon on the rock.

Tali turned, her Carnifex hand cannon raised. She scanned the room for any sign of geth.

Nothing.

She swept the room again, and, after deciding that it must have simply been the wind, returned to the console.

The sound came again. Closer this time. Accompanying it was the sound of small drops of fluid hitting the floor.

She whirled around again, her weapon raised. She scanned the room. Still no geth.

She turned her gaze downward, and discovered the source of the disturbance: a small, insect-like creature.

The creature was less than six inches long, and had two, sharp talons that it used to drag itself along. The rest of its body was a large, segmented tail. Its "face" was made up mostly of mandibles and eyes. Blue veins of Phazon ran across its form.

Tali recognized the creature when she read up on Phazon. They were called 'Phazon Parasites' by the Phrygisians. Evidently, the creatures were very durable, and often followed Phazon sources across the universe. It must have been on the meteor when it crash landed.

She raised her foot to stomp on the disgusting little insect. But, the creature made a surprising move. Before Tali could deliver a killing blow, it reared up and leapt onto her left arm. While it did not get a grip, the creature tore through Tali's biosuit and made a small cut into her skin.

Tali shrieked at this and stomped the creature to death when it hit the ground. She then immediately attended to the wound, sealing off the area and injecting antibiotics. She pulled out a sheet of cleansing wipes from a nearby medical kit and furiously cleaned the wound.

For most species, this would seem a little excessive. But to a quarian, where open air exposure could mean anything from a cold to a fatal infection, this could be life and death. Especially when dealing with that disgusting little alien parasite.

Once she had finished cleansing the cut, she took out a roll of bandages and tightly wrapped the wound, applying a spray-on sealant to prevent the gauze from coming loose.

When she was finally finished doing all this, Tali looked at her handiwork and shook her head. She had done all she could to prevent infection and disease. It was up to her near-worthless immune system to handle the rest. Hopefully, she could make it out with nothing more than a fever and a visit to a ship doctor.

She returned to the computer, continuing her observations and downloads.

* * *

Haestrom's dying sun pierced the Normandy's hangar bay as the large gangplank lowered onto the landing platform. The shields of Shepard, Samus, and Rundas quickly flared as radiation began to tear away at the protective barriers. They ran off the Normandy and into the shade of a tall building, where their shields could recharge.

"Alright, commander," Joker said over the comm. "I think I've got a small quarian ship signature on view about a kilometer away in some sort of loading area. Couldn't take you there because it was too crowded. Too much interference from the radiation to get a detailed reading."

"Thanks," Shepard replied. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, I've got a few other ship signatures coming in," the pilot notified. "Too disrupted to get a good profile on. Stay on your toes."

Shepard bade the pilot farewell and watched as the small stealth frigate took off back into space, where it could remain undetected.

"So, what's our plan of action?" Rundas asked, powering up his wrist mounted weapons.

Shepard looked about the spaceport. It was too open to keep their shields up. It looked like a large cargo processing area was on the other side of a wall. There was a door not far from them, but the red hologram on its face indicated that the portal was locked. With any luck, there may be a control center nearby to open it.

Shepard scanned the area, and found a small booth near the door, hidden behind some crates.

"There," Shepard said, pointing to the booth. "We book it for that control center, and open the door to the other side of that wall. Stay out of the sun."

"Then we fight from the shade," Samus said.

The two mercenaries nodded to the commander. Shepard dashed out of cover, his shields flaring in the sunlight. He made it into the booth as quickly as possible. Samus and Rundas followed afterwards, but the Phrygisian proved too large to make it through the entryway.

"Blast," the tall, black and blue alien cursed. He bent over and shimmied his way into the room.

The insides were small and efficiently laid out. A few computer consoles and boxes of medical supplies were scattered about the drab space.

What attracted the group's attention, however, was the body of a quarian marine. He looked fresh as well, his suit's cracked, green visor still leaking dark red blood.

Shepard knelt over the quarian. The bullet should have pierced his head, killing him instantly. But instead, it had blasted through his visor and melted his face.

Which usually meant one thing: geth.

They knew the quarians were here.

"He didn't stand a chance," Rundas lamented. "A shot like that from a plasma weapon is pretty much instantly fatal…" He then thought for a moment, seemingly saddened. "Reminds me of the Horus rebellions…"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Horus Rebellions?"

"Biggest scrambling of military assets by my species in response to a number of… instances," the Phrygisian explained. "Let's just say a lot of people died and we'll leave it at that."

The commander nodded.

Samus, however, was rather intrigued by the ambiguity of Rundas' statement. He had seen war? Big war? Perhaps there was more to this cocky alien merc than she had originally presumed?

Shepard found a console with the controls to the blast door. He quickly pressed the key to open it, and the gigantic metal slab slowly crept up into the wall, revealing the processing area on the other side.

"Alright, let's move," Shepard ordered.

The group passed through the door and took cover in the shade of several dilapidated loading cranes.

"Got something on radar," Samus informed them. "Interesting signature… hold on a sec." She opened up her visor's scan function and pulled up data of ships matching the profile of the signature she had found.

"It's a geth dropship," she shouted.

A short moment later, a smooth, bulbous dropship hovered in, dropping a payload of geth troopers into the loading area.

"Let me guess, these are the ones I shoot?" Rundas asked.

Shepard answered by planting a round from his sniper rifle directly into the flashlight eye of one of the robots.

"That's a yes!" Rundas shouted almost gleefully, firing ice beams at the geth. The weapons impacted the robots shields, and eventually began freezing their joints. The downed geth dropped like statues due to ice buildup.

Samus quickly began firing plasma bolts from her arm cannon, quickly tearing through geth shields and hardware.

A larger geth appeared from the midst, and then disappeared in a tactical cloak.

"We got a cloaker!" Rundas shouted. "He's stealing from you, Shep!"

Shepard scanned the battlefield for evidence of the invisible geth. Footprints, air disturbances, anything.

Suddenly, Samus opened fire. The bolts impacted the invisible geth, revealing it. Then, they tore through its shields and melted the platform beneath. The smoking wreck of the hunter fell to the ground.

"X-ray visor!" Samus shouted. "Reveals things you can't see."

"I want one," Rundas replied, launching a cryo blast at a geth that was closing in.

"Not on your life," Samus answered, smiling slightly beneath her helmet. She finished off the frozen geth with several plasma bolts.

"The geth know that the quarians are here, now," Shepard called out. "Come on, let's move."

The group dashed across the processing area, avoiding the sun as much as possible. They entered a corridor on the far side. As they rounded a corridor in the room, they witnessed a young quarian marine getting gunned down by a geth squad. His shields flared and the plasma bolts tore through his suit and melted his internal organs. He fell to the ground, dead.

The group opened fire on the geth, quickly felling the group.

Shepard knelt next to the quarian, making sure he was dead.

"Prazza!" a comm. device on the quarian crackled to life. "Prazza, come in!" the voice ordered. "Dammit, I told you to stay put! Where are you? We've got geth ships inbound!"

Shepard picked up the communicator. "This is commander Shepard of the Normandy," he responded. "We saw this marine get attacked by geth."

"Shit, that explains a lot," the voice responded. "He must have alerted the geth to our presence." There was a moment of silence. "The name's Kal'Reegar of the Third Migrant Marines," the person finally said. "Set your radios to channel 617 theta if you want to stay in contact."

Shepard tapped away at his omni tool, patching the transmission to his and his squadmates' helmets.

"So you're Tali's old boss. Well, glad to see we've got good company here, then." There was a short pause. "We knew this was high risk, but we expected more time," Reegar said. "We're scattered about. Some made it back to the ship in the loading platform. We were heading for the observatory to get Tali when I first heard of the geth sightings."

"What's the strength of your team?" Shepard asked, wanting to know the numbers of their assets.

"We're a small squad. A dozen or so, and a science team. They should be back at the ship though," Reegar replied. "However us marines are down to half strength. Made the synthetic bastards pay for it though."

"What are you doing here, in geth space?" Shepard asked.

"You're asking the wrong person," Kal responded. "I just point and shoot. We were supposed to be loading Phazon for one of the Admiralty's little projects. If you want any more details, you'll have to ask Tali."

"Have you encountered much resistance?" the commander inquired.

"There's been a bit," Reegar replied. "The geth have too much trouble communicating over long distances thanks to that sun, so their only alert to our presence is when they pass near us during periodic sweeps of the planet every twelve hours or so. I think we stayed just an hour too long."

"Is Tali okay?"

"She should be fine," the quarian soldier responded. "She was in the observatory scanning the meteor when the geth attacked. With any luck, she's still in there."

"Alright, we'll get to your team shortly," Shepard said. "Where should we go?"

"Hold on a sec, I'm pulling up your position," Reegar informed them. "Alright, just outside of that corridor's the main plaza. Our base camp should be in a building just off to your right. The marines there might be gone, but we're not far from there."

"We're on the move then," Shepard replied.

"Stay clear of the sun," the marine stated. "Fries your shields all to hell. Good luck Shepard. Reegar out."

"We should get over there," Samus suggested. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to save some of those marines before the geth get to them."

"Come on, let's go," Shepard ordered.

The group passed out of the corridor and into the plaza area. It was rather large, and probably served as a market or gathering area at one point. There were still some large buildings with fading quarian script painted over their doorways.

"Incoming!" Rundas shouted.

The team looked up to see a geth dropship flying in. It unleashed several plasma blasts, obliterating the base of a decorative column that stood near the entrance to the base camp. The pillar hit the ground, blocking off the door.

The ship then released a large platoon of geth troopers, all of which took cover and began laying down fire at the team.

Ice, plasma, and bullets flared across the plaza as the two groups engaged in battle. Rundas was freezing the geth left and right, quickly preventing them from continuing combat. Samus' plasma weaponry quickly took care of the other robots.

Meanwhile, Shepard had spotted snipers moving towards a catwalk that hung over the plaza. He picked them off, one by one, firing disruptor rounds into their glowing eyepieces.

"We should get to that base camp!" Rundas shouted. "We can lock the doors and keep the geth from getting to us from there."

"And how do you propose we do that with that column blocking it, ice cube?" Samus shouted back, firing at a geth shock trooper that had peeked out of cover.

'Ice Cube'. Rundas did not like how that sounded. Too derogatory. He would have to put his disdain for Samus' comment aside for later, though. He needed to keep his mind clear for battle.

"Like this!" Rundas shouted. Before Shepard or Samus could stop him, he dashed out of cover, running for the column.

Immediately, the geth's attention focused on him, firing plasma bolts at the exposed mercenary. The Phrygisian's shields flared as the sun and plasma rounds took their toll on the barriers.

Once he was close to the fallen pillar, Rundas unleashed a fully-charged ice blast at the stone structure. The object quickly froze solid. The Phrygisian charged through the ice, shattering it and the rock it covered.

Shepard and Samus stared in dumbfounded awe at the mercenary's actions.

"Let's go!" Samus shouted, pushing Shepard forward. They quickly ran to the doorway with the Phrygisian, and entered the building. Shepard shut the doors and quickly began hacking them with his omni-tool to keep them shut.

Before the commander was finished frying the door's circuitry, Rundas unleashed a blast of ice at its edges, freezing them in place. Another blast at the door's console released a shower of sparks, and the holographic controls on the door flickered off. It would no longer open for anyone.

"I guess that works too," Shepard said, switching off his omni-tool.

"Interesting layout," Rundas mumbled. "These quarians have some efficient architecture."

Samus patrolled the room. It was very similar to the control booth they had been in earlier, although much more spacious. The ceiling was low and made from a concrete-stone mixture. Computer equipment was lying about the area, obviously set up by the quarian team. The bodies of several geth and quarian troopers were scattered about the room.

The human bounty hunter found a still-functional geth crawling along the floor. Something or someone had taken out both its legs. She finished it off with a single plasma shot to the head.

Shepard stepped up to several consoles set up on an elevated platform. It was an obviously a work station for the science team. Several lead-lined boxes containing Phazon samples were scattered around it.

The commander found a computer console and activated it with his omni-tool. The console flared to life, and began playing a mission log.

Tali's mission log.

"I've been here before, and yet I still can't believe it," the computer relayed. "Our ancestors used to walk these halls with uncovered heads… The sun must have been normal back then. The walls and architecture are beautiful! So much space. Walls of stone. I wish my friends could see this." There was a short pause. "I wish Shepard was here."

Shepard was somewhat flattered that the quarian was still thinking of him, even though he hadn't seen her in over a year.

There was a ping from a terminal at the other side of the room. A message was coming in.

A terribly disrupted hologram flashed to life at the console.

"Tali'Zorah to base camp, do you copy?" a static-filled voice asked through the radio. "Tali'Zorah to base camp, do you read me? Is anyone there?"

Samus knelt down next to a quarian body—the one that had obviously disabled the geth she killed earlier. He was dead, having bled out not long before they arrived. She turned to Shepard and shook her head.

Shepard walked to the console and activated the radio.

"Tali, it's Shepard," he said. "I'm sorry, everyone here is dead. Any survivors must have fallen back."

"Damn it… we knew this mission was high risk," Tali muttered. "Wait, Shepard? What are you doing here? This is the middle of geth space!"

"I was in the neighborhood," Shepard quipped. "Thought you might need a hand."

"You like saying that, don't you?" Rundas asked.

"Thanks for coming, Shepard," Tali responded. "It means a lot to hear your voice. Kal'Reegar and the rest of the marines were coming to get me when the geth attacked. I've got the data we need and I'm safe for now, but there's a lot of geth outside."

"What data were you getting, exactly?" Shepard inquired.

"It's about that meteor that hit the planet not too long ago," she replied. "It's emitting tons of Phazon radiation. The admiralty wanted to find out more about it. I've been collecting samples from it as well. There's a lot of Phazon veins growing out from the impact site. I can tell you more about it once we've got fewer geth shooting at us."

"Is anyone else with you?"

"Reegar had a team of marines when he was coming to the observatory. At least some of them are alive," she said solemnly, "I can still hear them shooting outside."

"Should I bring in the Normandy?" Shepard asked. "We could use it to clear out the geth and their ships."

"Doubtful," the quarian replied. "These buildings are centuries old. If you bring down heavy fire, the whole place could collapse on us."

Shepard turned to the unsealed doorway leading out from the facility. Its console was damaged as well, but it still looked operational.

"The door here is shut and the console looks damaged," Shepard informed Tali. "Do you think you can get it open on your end?"

Tali began tapping away at her omni-tool. "Now let me see… Yes, I can do it. Here, it should be unlocked now."

The door grinded its way open.

"Be careful Shepard, and please, do whatever you can to keep Reegar alive."

Her hologram flickered off.

The group left the base camp and passed through a hallway and into what appeared to be another market or supplies depot.

Several geth recon drones flew about the area. When they caught sight of the team, they unleashed a barrage of blue-white plasma before turning invisible.

"Blast, they're all stealing from you, Shep!" Rundas joked, taking cover behind the pillar.

"I'll take care of them," Samus said, activating her X-ray visor.

The female hunter unleashed several blasts of high-temperature plasma. The orbs impacted the invisible drones, draining their shields and revealing them to the rest of the group. Shepard and Rundas helped take them out with their own weapons.

The group moved further down the marketplace, encountering more recon drones. Shepard took out several of them with his sniper rifle.

"Big one, coming in!" Rundas shouted.

Shepard looked to see a geth prime slowly lumbering towards the group.

"Samus!" he shouted. "Take it out."

The huntress turned and saw the massive geth. She charged the giant, unleashing a volley of plasma fire. When she was close enough, she fell to her back and slid underneath it, charging a blast. Once she was right between its legs, she fired a powerful, charged blast of plasma, melting through its armor and destroying most of its core.

The geth prime fell, devastated by the attack.

More drones appeared, hassling the group with barrages of fire. Shepard and Rundas brought down the disk-shaped patrolling machines with their weapons. The machines' fragile bodies exploded as they hit the ground.

They neared the end of the plaza, but another geth prime appeared.

"I've got this one!" Rundas shouted.

The Phrygisian ran at the lumbering geth and dodged the blasts from its weapons. He fired several ice beam shots at its knees, freezing the joints and preventing it from moving. With nothing supporting it, the machine fell forward. The whole group removed its presence with a barrage of fire.

They moved into another corridor heading to the observatory.

Inside, the corridor was locked. The doorway leading into the next plaza was sealed, and metal shudders covered the windows.

Shepard found a console and pressed a button to open the door. The controls also opened the shudders on the window.

Outside, across the plaza, was a geth colossus—the largest of geth platforms. It had a tall, wide-set body vaguely reminiscent of ancient sauropod dinosaurs. It charged a blast of purple-white plasma and launched it the room that Shepard and his team were in. The bolt sailed into the wall and exploded against it, melting some of the concrete.

"That's a big one," Rundas growled.

Samus let out a quick laugh. "This should be interesting."

They made their way down a ramp and into the plaza. There, a red-suited quarian marine ordered them to get to cover. He was toting a rocket launcher, and his suit was patched up in several places. Probably from gunshot wounds.

"Shepard, it's Kal," he said. "I talked with you on the radio a little while back. I still don't have any idea why you're here, but this ain't the time to be picky."

A round from the geth colossus slammed into the wall they were hiding behind, rocking the whole group.

"Tali's inside over there," Reegar informed them. "The geth killed the rest of my squad and they're trying to get to her. The best I've been able to do is draw their attention!"

Another round blasted against their cover.

"Are you sure she's still alive?" Shepard asked.

"The observatory's reinforced, and even the geth will need time to get through it." Reegar then laughed. "And it's hard to hack a door when someone's firin' rockets at ya! The geth are near platoon strength but the colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol. Every time you hurt it, it huddles up and fixes itself. I can't get a clear shot at it like that. I tried to move in closer, but one of the bastards punched a hole clean through my suit."

"How bad's you're suit damage?" Shepard asked, hoping not to lose the marine.

"Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination and I'm swimming in antibiotics," Reegar replied. "The geth might get me but I'm not going to die on the battlefield from a damned infection in the middle of a battle. That's just insultin'."

"What's the battlefield layout?" Shepard asked.

"Look for yourself," Reegar said. "The right's got a catwalk that makes a great sniper perch, but none of my men made it past the geth. The middle's got cover, but that damned colossus has a clear shot at you. The left is safe from the colossus but your ass is hanging out for the geth to shoot. That's how I got hit."

"How do you want us to deal with the colossus?" Shepard asked.

"Leave that to me," Samus replied, cutting off the quarian.

"Whatever you say, ma'am," Reegar finished, rolling his eyes.

"We need to get to Tali," Shepard told him. "Got any ideas?"

"Just one!" Kal announced. "I'm not moving so well but I can still pull a trigger and I've got one rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet." He loaded another rocket into the barrel. "You move in close. I'll keep the colossus busy, and with luck drop its shields. Then you'll be able to finish it off."

Shepard thought about what Tali said, about keeping Reegar alive.

"You've done enough, Reegar," the commander told him. "You don't need to throw your life away."

"Wasn't asking for your permission," the quarian said, shaking his head. "My job is to keep Tali safe and this is the best shot we've got." He got up to begin firing.

Shepard pushed him back into cover. "We don't have enough people on our side for you to take one for the team! Stand down!"

"I'm not going to stay here while you run into enemy fire!" Reegar shouted. "They killed my whole squad!"

"And if you want to honor your squad, watch my back!" Shepard ordered. "I need you here to keep them from sending in reinforcements."

"Alright, Shepard," Reegar said, "we'll do it your way. Hit them for me! Keelah se'lai!"

"Heads up!" Rundas shouted.

Another blast from the colossus slammed into the ground in front of them.

Shepard ran for the sniper perch, while Rundas headed up the middle. The catwalk was exposed to the sun, and Shepard's shields flared as he ran across it, gunning down geth with his Carnifex hand cannon. Eventually, he made it halfway across. That's when the colossus noticed him. It began firing, and massive blasts of plasma spattered onto the railing. Shepard was forced to take cover.

Rundas made it about halfway before the geth pinned him down. He began firing cryo blasts at the geth colossus, trying to take down its shields. A geth came up on his cover. He grabbed it by its mechanical neck and smashed it into the ground, completely obliterating its body. He then returned to cover and fired again.

Shepard had resorted to taking potshots with his sniper rifle, slowly whittling down the thing's shields. But every time they flashed off, it huddled together and began repairing itself.

Shepard was getting angry. He noticed some geth crawling onto the catwalk, and began firing at them. Two shots to every one of their heads. One for shields, one to disable them.

Shepard popped out a thermal clip and realized he was out of ammo. He quickly switched to his sidearm and began firing at them with it instead. Slowly, though, that began to run dry as well.

Then, the commander noticed something.

"Where's Samus?" he shouted to Rundas.

The Phrygisian shrugged, ducking back into cover as the colossus began firing at him again. He was pinned down, and was having trouble even taking shots at anything near him.

Suddenly, something leapt down from a ledge above the colossus. It was Samus. She had used her armor's jets to get slowly climb to that position during the fight.

She landed on the colossus' head, and swung down in front of its eye. She charged a plasma blast in her cannon and pressed the weapon into the geth platform's single eye. She opened fire, and in one shot tore through its shields. She fired again and again, melting through the top of its head. Eventually, the plasma bolts flew out the other side of the colossus.

She let go and fell to the ground in the middle of a huddle of geth. She continued firing at the colossus, burning apart its armor with plasma and tearing through its hardware within.

The sudden attack distracted the geth, giving Shepard and Rundas enough time to charge towards the colossus. They began firing at the geth, taking them out. Shepard had resorted to using a submachine gun, as he had depleted nearly all his ammo. Disruptor rounds and blasts of ice completely decimated the attacking geth.

Samus finished gutting the colossus, which fell to the ground in a mighty heap.

"Be still," she growled at the unmoving giant. She turned to the other two, who had finished

Rundas was staring at his fellow bounty hunter in thunderstruck silence. "Blast, that was awesome."

Samus cracked a faint smile and turned to Shepard, who was heading for the entryway to the observatory.

"Hold on," Tali said through the radio. "I locked the door to keep more geth from getting inside." There was a short pause. "There that should do it."

The door opened, and the group stepped in.

Several geth corpses were littered about the room. Their midsections were torn asunder by a blast from a shotgun. Tali's work.

"Just let me finish this download," Tali told them. She finished her work and turned to them.

"Thank you Shepard," she said. "If not for you I would never have made it out of this room." She shook her head. "This whole mission has turned into a disaster. I wish I had never taken this up, but I couldn't let anyone else go on something this risky. I already knew the area."

"A lot of quarians lost their lives here," Shepard said solemnly. "Was it worth it?"

"Keelah, I hope so," Tali replied. "This is Phazon, one of the most… well… I'm not at the liberty of discussing it. But the Admiralty board seems to think it will help with their projects. Plus, I've learned the geth are interested in it too."

"The geth are interested in Phazon?" Rundas asked. "Why would they want it?"

"I don't know," Tali said. "Probably for a power source. They've been building a wall and shield around the meteor's crater in order to prevent its Phazon from spreading, though. Our last mining probe just got back before they activated the shields."

"Why would they build a wall around it though?" Samus asked.

"The meteor has some really strange properties," Tali answered. "It seems to help accelerate the growth of Phazon. It's already begun to expand by a few kilometers since it first hit. I think the wall is supposed to prevent further contamination while still giving them an area to harvest it."

Shepard noticed a bandage wrapped around her left arm.

"Are you alright, Tali?" he asked. "Did you take some fire."

"No," Tali said. "I—" she thought for a moment, and looked at the puddle of the parasite's remains. She didn't want them worrying about some foreign disease getting the better of her. "Yes," she finally answered. "But I should be fine. I might get a little sick, but nothing serious."

"Well, I'm glad you were able to get your data, no matter the reason," Shepard said. "Once you get it, well, we could use you back on the Normandy."

Tali smiled faintly under her helmet. "I'd be honored to return. I promised to see this mission through, and I did. I can leave with you and send the data back to the Fleet. And if the admirals have a problem with it they can go to hell. I just watched the rest of my team die."

"Maybe not the whole rest of your team, ma'am," a voice called out.

Reegar limped in, still carrying his rocket launcher.

"Reegar!" Tali shouted. "You made it!"

Kal'Reegar laughed. "Your old captain's as good as you said. The damn colossus never stood a chance."

Shepard turned to the injured marine. "If need be, the Normandy can get you out of here, Reegar," he said.

"Eh, the geth didn't damage our ship," Reegar said. "As long as we get out of here before reinforcements show up, we'll be fine."

"Actually, I won't be coming with you, Kal," Tali stated. "I'm joining Commander Shepard."

"Then I'll pass the data to the admiralty board and let 'em know what happened," Kal replied. "She's all yours now, Shepard, keep her safe."

"Take care, Kal," Tali farewelled.

"You too, ma'am," the marine said back, leaving the observatory.

"Well, Shepard, let's get back to the Normandy," Tali said. "I'm anxious to get to know your new crew members."

"So these are what quarians look like?" Rundas asked. "Fasinating. When I was told that you lived in suits, I expected something a little more like those round fat ugly things."

Tali shook her head. "Or maybe I should keep to myself."

Shepard smiled and activated the communicator. "Normandy, we need pickup. Tali's coming with us."

* * *

**Author's Note:** And that's Haestrom. Dang, this turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. I think its longer than the previous two chapters combined. Which worries me, since some of the other chapters may be even longer. Still, it reads pretty well.

Well, Tali's back on board the Normandy. We'll be picking up a few more squadmates before its all said and done.

Remember to follow and review! I can use constructive criticism.


	4. Chapter 3: The Blue Death

Shepard finished crawling down the maintenance shaft into the hangar and engineering deck. He entered the corridor and turned left, heading for engineering.

Inside, he found Tali, who was already chatting up a storm with Engineer Adams. She appeared to be enjoying herself.

Shepard looked at Tali's new envirosuit. He had not really noticed it before, but she had definitely changed. The suit looke more mature, and wrapped to her body. The fabric had changed as well and was ornately decorated with swirling patterns. She had also repaired the suit rupture on her left arm, and the suit now covered the bandage beneath it.

Shepard found the whole new look rather… attractive. At least for a quarian.

"Hello, Tali. Adams," Shepard greeted the two.

"Shepard," Tali greeted back. "Here, Adams, I'm going to talk to the commander for a bit. It's been good talking again, though."

"Likewise, Tali," Adams said, smiling. "Glad there's someone on this ship who knows the drive as well as I do now." He walked off, heading back to his console to work.

"Well, Shepard," Tali said. "It's good to be back. I can't thank you enough for getting me and Reegar out of that mess." She motioned for him to follow her, and lead him to the corridor to chat privately. "I can't believe so many people died…" she whispered. "All for data and samples on Phazon. I hope the admiralty board gets some use out of it…"

"Have you heard anything about Reegar?" Shepard asked. "Did he survive with his injuries?"

"He just sent me a message," Tali said. "It looks like he's going to make a full recovery. Any time you get a suit puncture it's a matter of luck. Reegar got out with a relatively minor infection."

"So are you enjoying the Normandy?" the commander inquired.

Tali shrugged. "I like the quiet. You forget about it while serving on ships back in the fleet." She then sighed. "I miss the familiar faces though. Wrex, Garrus… all of them."

"So how are you holding up? You took some fire on Haestrom too, you know."

"Well, I'm holding up," she told him. "I have been better though."

Her omni-tool pinged to life. "Hold on a second…" She tapped away at the holographic tool. "Come on you little bosh'tet," she cursed. "Sorry… thanks to that para… geth… I've got a small fever and I'm taking it out on the poor drive core." She then took a more defensive stance. "Don't worry, it's not serious. I just got sloppy while doing some suit repair."

"Are you sick?" Shepard asked. "Do you want to talk to Chakwas? Rest a while?"

"Really, it's not that bad. If a stray bit of bacteria could kill us, we'd all have died by now. The fever should go away in a day or two. Don't worry, it won't affect my performance while on the Normandy."

"Hey, commander," Joker said over the intercom. "We've got a message coming in from Admiral Hackett. I think he wants to talk to you."

"Will do, Joker," Shepard responded. He turned back to Tali. "Sorry, Tali. I need to go."

"It's fine," the quarian said, sounding slightly disappointed. "We can talk later, when we both have more time. Adams wanted me to check out some of the drive core modifications anyway."

"We'll talk later then. See you later, Tali," Shepard said.

"Good bye, Alex."

Shepard turned away, and then noticed that Tali had used his first name.

"Did you just…?" Shepard asked.

"What?" Tali said, rather defensively. She had noticed it too.

"You called me by my first name. No one ever seems to do that."

"I don't think I did," the quarian said, trying to cover her tracks.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, but started up the maintenance shaft anyway, discounting the comment. He kind of liked thinking that she had in fact identified him by his first name. It had been a long time since anyone had acted that personable towards him.

Tali, meanwhile, cursed herself for acting that way. She knew she and Shepard were not that close. He was still her commanding officer on this vessel, even though she had been friends with him for years. She wondered how exactly she had let it slip. It should not feel this wrong to say someone's first name, anyway, right? In fact, she did not really care. So what? Shepard identified everyone else by the first name, why couldn't she do the same with him.

The quarian pushed the thought to the side for now. She needed to get back to work on the drive core anyway.

As she started back towards the core, she felt a stinging itch on her left arm. It was along the wound the parasite had left. She rubbed it, and the itch disappeared.

Must just be healing, she thought to herself.

Back above deck, Shepard engaged communications with Admiral Hackett.

"Shepard, things are starting to look bad," the admiral said, shaking his head. "After Norion, at least twenty other Leviathan Seed impacts have appeared in remote colony systems. Over half of them were escorted by Space Pirate vessels. Three have made contact with the surface, and were destroyed via heavy orbital bombardment, but not before causing alterations to the planets' ecosystems."

"Leviathan Seeds?" the commander asked.

"The Phazon Meteors," Hackett answered. "That's what your friends on Haestrom called it. The quarians sent us their data on the one that hit Haestrom. It appears that they have the ability to accelerate Phazon growth on a planet, eventually causing their impact zone to become concentrated with Phazon. Some of our scientists models show that after several millennia, the substance could spread across the entire planet."

"Do you know what's causing these meteors to appear?"

Hackett shook his head. "No. We've been unable to place their source. Some believe that Urtragh, the Space Pirate's homeworld, may be their source, although there's no evidence to support this."

"So what do we do?" Shepard asked.

"We're going to look into the matter," Hackett replied. "And by that, I mean you will be on our front doing so. We want you to start trying to figure out where these Leviathans are coming from and why the Space Pirates appear to be helping them to their destinations."

"Where should I start?" Shepard inquired.

"You should first begin readying a team," the admiral suggested. "I've already forwarded you the dossiers of two people you might want to bring aboard. Both of them are on the asteroid city of Omega in the Terminus systems. The first is Mordin Solus, a salarian scientist who's been researching Phazon heavily since it first appeared. He's set up a clinic on Omega to deal with a plague in its slums. The second is Archangel, an accomplished vigilante whose record might even impress you, Shepard."

"Anything else, Admiral?"

"Just one suggestion. Don't start a diplomatic incident. The last thing the Council wants is you disrupting their relations with the Terminus," Hackett said. "You start a war, and we all pay for it."

"Understood."

"Hackett out."

The hologram returned the galaxy map to its proper place on the pedestal and Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. He then felt a pang of worry. The mission was getting more dangerous with every call. And now he would have to spearhead an investigation on Leviathan Seeds… this day was not looking up.

He would have to stop waking up in the med bay after a mission. That always seemed to send them downhill.

"Joker, set a course for Omega," the commander ordered.

"Omega?" Joker asked, slightly dumfounded. "Commander, I'm crazy but not dumb. Are you sure you want to go there?"

Shepard shook his head. "I don't want to go just as much as you, but we're under orders. We have people to pick up there."

Joker nodded in the cockpit. "Alright, commander. We'll be hitting the Relay in a few hours, and I'm sure Omega control will want to have a few words with me. Want me to drop your specter status as well? Speed things up a little?"

"Nah, Joker. You can take things as slowly as you need to."

"Thank God. I don't want to go into that pesthole any sooner, anyway."

Shepard went back down to the crew deck to access the hangar. As he passed the mess, he saw Samus, back to skulking at the table. Her armor was still on, not having been removed.

He looked at her strangely, and then continued on his way. He wanted to continue chatting with Tali, anyway, and the huntress looked like she did not want to be disturbed.

At the table, Samus sat, holding her head in her hands. She breathed deeply as she thought, keeping her eyes as open as they could.

For a moment, she closed them, and she was back… there. Her old Alliance commander leading them through the jungle, the techs hauling their equipment. She could see it all.

She opened her eyes again, and then closed them.

"Move this way," her commander had ordered. "We need a better view of the base. We can get it from up there."

"With all due respect, that will expose us," she had replied. "We'd be open to attack."

"You do what I say, Samus," the commander shot back, his eyes boring into her. "We move. Now."

She opened her eyes, the rest of the memory already flooding her mind. She breathed deeply, suppressing the urge to sob.

"You holding up?" a somewhat gravelly, alien voice asked.

She turned to see Rundas walking towards her. The massive Phrygisian found a seat and set himself in it—nearly breaking the chair.

She shrugged at her fellow mercenary's question.

"That's not an answer," Rundas said, a rather joking tone in his voice.

Damn that alien. He always sounded like he was joking.

"I'm fine," Samus responded. "Just… think too much between missions."

"I think I can relate?" Rundas said.

"Like hell…" Samus mumbled.

The Phrygisian rolled his… well, Samus couldn't tell if he rolled anything. But his movements were dismissive enough.

"I can tell by the way you act. You've seen some terrible things, haven't you?"

Samus shrugged.

"You act just like my friends after the Rebellions," Rundas said.

"What do you mean?" Samus asked, only half-listening to the alien talk.

"You're quiet," Rundas replied. "You avoid conversation, and only look for action. When in motion, you stay that way; but when you aren't… you withdraw. You become a shell of your former self."

The bounty huntress shrugged. "So…?"

"So, I'm saying you're being a recluse. You're longing for battle and nothing else. You can either open up, or keep skulking around the mess until this is all over."

"I don't have anything more to say to you," Samus hissed.

"Alright," Rundas said in a defensive tone. "But trust me, you'll need to talk one day, or you wind up in a ward."

The alien got up. He then thought for a moment, and then said, "You and me, we do what we do because we've seen the worst this galaxy has to offer, and we want to make it a little better. We've both been to hell and back… and we don't want anyone else to experience it.

"We're the good guys, Samus," he finally said. "It'd do you well to remember that. And if you do ever want to talk, you have a shipfull of people to do so with."

With that, the alien walked away, leaving Samus to dwell on what he had said. Luckily, it proved a meaningful distraction to her memories.

Back in engineering, Shepard was waiting for Tali to finish work on a fuel line. Evidently, when the Alliance techs had modified the Normandy's engines to keep them state-of-the art, they had been sloppy. If the line was left the way it was, enough strain could cause the engines to shut down completely. Shepard was not exactly sure how the whole process could happen, but it was serious enough.

Tali looked from her omni-tool and to the line, checking a schematic and turning back to the fuel line.

"Here, Shepard, could you give me a hand with this?" the quarian engineer asked.

"Sure," the commander said, shrugging. He walked over and knelt down in front of her.

"Here," she said pointing. "Hold on to the line at this point and this point."

Shepard held it in place.

"Alright, just hold on a sec." The holographic tool slowly began to manufacture a cufflink around the fuel line out of omni-gel. Within a few moments, a cooling, new fastener was in place.

"There we go," the quarian said.

They both got up at the same time, bumping their heads into each other.

"Sorry," Shepard apologized.

"No, I'm fine," Tali replied, letting out a short laugh. "Well, that should hold it for a while. I think a more permanent fixture should be put in once we finish this mission."

"I'll try to see to it," Shepard said. "So, you still feeling okay?"

The quarian nodded. "Like I said, I'm fine," Tali replied. "My suit's repaired, and I've been taking some slight supplements to fight off infection. Trust me, just because my suit's been damaged doesn't mean I'll be deathly ill. Just ask Reegar."

Shepard shook his head. "It's got to be hard living in those suits all your life," he said. "Don't think I could do it."

Tali nodded solemnly. "Yes…" she said, her voice trailing off a bit. "We're in our suits our whole lives, even among family. True they provide a sense of privacy and personal space on the Fleet, but still… Not seeing one another's face."

"Do you ever get to leave them?" Shepard asked.

"Well, we always could, but that's ill-advised," she said. "You do that, you're exposed to open-air infections, disease, contamination… We can take them off in sterilized clean-rooms, but those are always hard to find. Of course, the closest thing most of us ever get is linking suit environments with another."

"Linking suits?"

"It's the most intimate thing we can do with another quarian is linking our suit environments. We get sick at first and then we adapt. It's one of our most important gestures of trust. Of acceptance. I've never trusted anyone enough except, well… no quarians, at least."

Shepard nodded. "Maybe you'll find someone worth trusting. Some day."

"Yeah…" she replied. Her voice sounded… disappointed. "Well… I need to get back to the ship's core. Work on some more systems. Linking sui—I mean linking lines with—just linking fuel lines. And that sort of thing."

The quarian quickly turned away. Shepard noticed that the way she held herself was a lot less proud all of a sudden.

Shepard headed back towards the crew deck. Rundas had some stuff he wanted to go over. The poor Phrygisian was still trying to acclimatize to the world outside the Tallon Spur. Getting used to it would take a long time.

Yet, the thought of Tali's defeated look haunted him.

"Approaching Omega, Commander," Joker announced as the Normandy sped through the vacuum towards the city imbedded in a massive asteroid.

The commander stood on the bridge, watching the planetoid slowly roll into view. Shepard hated the asteroid city. Everything about it reeked—sometimes literally. It was mostly slums controlled by many gangs and private armies all vying for power. The only person that could claim to be 'in charge' of the derelict asteroid mine turned metropolis. That was Aria T'loak, a crime boss asari that had taken the city from its former 'leader' by force. She currently ruled her 'empire' from the club known as Afterlife, another sleazy joint like Chora's Den.

Worse yet, he would have to talk to the crime lord if he wanted to find out where Mordin and Archangel were in her city.

"Can't wait to touch down," the pilot continued. "Reminds of Noveria only with much more colorful death threats."

"We'll try to make it quick," Shepard replied.

"Nah, I thought we'd stick around," Joker said. "I wanted to pick up some entertainment or something."

Shepard could only shake his head at the comment. "Well, do whatever you please. Just don't anger anyone."

"Wasn't planning on it. Good luck, Commander."

Shepard walked back to the ship's airlock, where Samus and Rundas were waiting. The mercenaries were already prepping their weapons.

"You know we don't want to start a war, right?" the commander asked the two.

"I'm just following her lead," Rundas said. "I've never even heard of this 'Omega' place."

"With all due respect, Omega is war, Commander," the female bounty hunter said flatly. "We'll need our weapons if we want to ward off trouble."

Shepard nodded. "Just make sure to use them sparingly."

A groan emitted from the airlock as the docking arm sealed into place.

"Looks like we're good to go," Rundas announced.

"Tali coming?" Shepard asked, wondering about his other squadmate. He had invited her up.

"She said she had work to do on the engines," the Phrygisian replied. "Sounded kind of disappointed, but what do I know about their species?"

She was still down? It had been a few hours since their conversation. He figured it was just because she was depressed that she had never found someone to link up with. Maybe something else was bugging her?

The door's opened, and the ship's VI announced, "Commanding officer is away. XO Pressley has the deck."

Shepard and his two followers walked down the musty docking corridor and into a main hallway from the docking platforms. A homeless salarian scavenger was already there to meet them.

"Hey, welcome to Omega! You're new here, aren't ya?" the salrian asked nervously. "I can always tell. Allow me to—"

A heavily armed and armored batarian walked up to the salarian.

The worried amphibian turned to the batarian. "Oh, hello Moklan. I was just—"

"Leave, Fargut," Moklan growled in a harsh voice. "Now."

"Of course, Moklan!" the salarian said, rubbing one of his crests. "Whatever she wants."

The batarian waved him off, and the salarian ran away.

"Blasted scavengers," the batarian hissed. "Welcome to Omega, Shepard."

"You know who I am?" Shepard inquired.

"Of course," Moklan replied. "We had you tagged the moment you entered the system. You're not as subtle as you think. Aria wants to know what brings a Specter to Omega. I suggest you go to Afterlife now and present yourself."

"Cut the attitude," Shepard responded. "I'm not here to cause problems for Omega."

"Things explode around you Shepard, and you have one of the deadliest bounty hunters in the galaxy standing behind you. It's no wonder why Aria is keeping an eye on you." The Batarian growled one final command: "Afterlife. Now." He then departed.

"They always this nice?" Rundas asked.

"Let's go," Samus said. "The sooner we get out of this hellhole, the better."

They entered an open area in the city. Massive columns made of steel, inhabited by thousands of citizens, stood in the distance. Shuttles zoomed overhead. Of course, dominating the area was the front entrance of the club known as Afterlife. A massive, purple-tinted screen showed images of asari dancers. In front of the club's large doors was an elcor doorman, in front of which stood a long line of patrons. A news report about a Phazon-based plague in the slums played on some sort of loudspeaker system.

Shepard bypassed the line and walked up to the entrance.

A batarian bouncer nodded to him. "Aria's expecting you," he informed. "Go on in."

The group walked down a hall lined by holographic flames and drinking patrons of the club. Further in, they entered the club's circular main room. In the center was a large hologram of a nude asari dancer, around which several scantily-clad dancers whirled around poles on an elevated stage. The primary bar was wrapped around this stage.

Shepard shook his head. Too many places like this existed in the galaxy. It was kind of a sad commentary on multiple races at once.

"What in blazes is up with this place?" Rundas asked. "What are they doing to those poles?"

"Some people find it attractive…" Samus muttered, neither disgusted nor interested in everything around her.

Rundas looked at the asari on the stage for a while. "I don't see it," he finally said.

They walked to an elevated platform overlooking the club, upon which stood the asari 'empress' herself. She was surrounded by several armed, batarian guards.

Aria must have a thing for batarians, Shepard laughed to himself.

The group approached her. Without even turning to face them, the purple-skinned humanoid simply said, "That's close enough."

Several guns immediately pointed at Shepard's head. Behind him, Samus and Rundas readied their weapons, upon which a plethora of guards raised their own firearms. There was a moment of tense standoff.

Aria nodded back to the group, and the guards withdrew their weapons. One batarian, nearest to Shepard, began scanning him with his omni-tool. "Stand still," he ordered.

"If you're looking for weapons, you're not doing a very good job," Shepard joked, pulling up his Carnifex pistol.

"There's a plague running rampant in the slums," Aria said, still not turning back. "A Phazon plague. You can never be too careful anymore."

"I was told you were the one to talk to if I had questions," Shepard said.

"They're clean," the batarian guard informed Aria.

The female Asari turned around. Underneath her chest-length white jacket, she wore some kind of combat harness that revealed a rather large amount of cleavage.

"Depends on the questions," she hissed.

"I heard you run Omega."

She laughed rather menacingly. "I. AM. Omega," she said, raising her arms. She then dropped them. "But you need more. Everyone needs more something. And they all come to me. I'm the boss, CEO, queen—if you're feeling dramatic. It doesn't matter. Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule." She sat down on a couch that lined the platform.

"Don't. Fuck. With Aria," she hissed, a grin forming on her face.

"Wasn't planning to," Shepard said. Secretly, he wanted to add 'I don't like asari that much anyway', but decided against it.

"Good," the crime lord said. "Take a seat."

Shepard sat down on the couch on the left end of the platform.

"So," the asari asked, "what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for Mordin Solus," Shepard said. "Do you know where I can find him?"

"The salarian doctor?" Aria asked, seeming rather surprised. "Last I heard he was trying to help plague victims down in the quarantine zone. Evidently he's worked around Phazon before." She smiled. "I always liked Mordin. He's as likely to help you as he is to shoot you."

"What can you tell me about him?"

"He used to be part of the salarian Special Tasks Group. He's brilliant and dangerous. He was part of the Contact teams sent into the Tallon Spur. Just don't get him talking. He never shuts up." She motioned towards the doors. "If you really need to find him, take a shuttle to the quarantine zone. No guarantee they'll let you in, though." She reclined further back on the couch. "Anything else?"

"I'm trying to track down Archangel," the commander said.

Aria laughed. "You and half of Omega. You want him dead, too?"

"I'm putting a team together. He's on my list."

"Interesting. You're going to make some enemies teaming up with Archangel. That's assuming you can get to him. He's in a bit of… trouble right now."

"What kind of trouble?"

"The local merc groups have joined forces to take him down. Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack, all of Omega's biggest players. They've got him cornered, but it sounds like they're having trouble finishing him off. They've started hiring anyone with a gun to help them."

"Might be a way in," Rundas interjected.

"They're using a private room for recruiting," Aria mentioned. "Just over there. I'm sure they'll sign you up."

"Thanks, I won't take up any more of your time," Shepard said.

"I have all the time in the world, Shepard," Aria hissed. "Archangel"—she laughed—"not so much."

The commander walked down to his squadmates.

"So which do we handle first?" Samus asked.

"We'll go get the doctor," Shepard replied. "Chances are the mercs will bide their time as long as possible to get Archangel, so we have some leeway. Come on, let's go."

They walked through the dank, metal halls of Omega and finally reached the access doors to the quarantined district. Sadly, the blast doors were sealed, and turian guard was present. He was, however, preoccupied with a human demanding to be let in.

"Just let me in!" she shouted. "I want to get my stuff before looters do!"

"Lady, if you go in there without proper gear you'll be dead in a week," the turian stated, rather politely for a citizen of Omega.

"But humans—"

"Are just as susceptible to the plague as everyone else. This is Phazon-based. You'll be screwed up and mad in a couple of days. I'm sorry, I can't let you in."

Shepard and his followers approached the two. "We can't get in?"

"Finally, a human who has ears," the turian breathed. "No one's allowed in. The plague's deadly to everyone. Only people with the proper breathing equipment can enter. Those who don't…" His voice trailed off. "Our orders are to wait until the plague or the vorcha making their home down there kill everyone. Then, go in and clean up."

"Listen," Shepard said, "You're stuck here until this quarantine's over. That could take weeks. What you really need is to get this problem solved right now." He cracked a smile. "That's what I do: solve problems. Let me in, and I'll get this district straightened out."

"You think you can fix this?" the turian asked. "Why not. The quarantine is just to keep infected people and Phazon in, anyway. I'll radio ahead, let the guards know you're coming in."

"Wait?" the girl who had been hassling him asked. "You're stopping them but not me? You son of a bitch!"

"You don't have a grenade launcher, lady," he growled. "Get lost."

The girl stomped off, mumbling curses.

Shepard turned to his fellows.

"Good thing we have filtration systems," Samus said.

"What about you, Rundas?" Shepard asked. "Will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine," the Phrygisian responded.

Shepard waved for them to enter the district.

The trek through the plague district was not as eventful as Shepard and his team had expected. The guards had not given them any trouble on their way in. The only problems they had faced were a few small groups of vorcha who were clawing around abandoned apartments and packs of mangy varren that looked nearly dead anyway.

Eventually, after about half an hour of making their way through the district, they reached Mordin's makeshift clinic. The small building was wedged into a corridor, probably made from the remnants of an old restaurant or café. It was laid out into a few main rooms, with the waiting area and lobby being the first place Shepard and his team entered.

A clinic guard told them not to try anything drastic. Shepard was not planning to, though. To avoid confrontation, he and his team deactivated their weapons while walking in.

Several people that looked rather ill sat on benches around the clinic. The assistants attending to them all wore specialized breathing filters to prevent Phazon contamination. Many of them were scanning patients or injecting them with immune system boosters. Most of the doctors looked frantic, probably having been awake for long hours.

Shepard found a tired-looking doctor working a counter and approached him.

"You don't look like a plague victim," the medical man said, rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Professor Solus," Shepard informed him.

"He's probably in back, working with the more critical patients. Over that way."

"Thanks," Shepard replied. He headed down the hallway the doctor pointed to. Medical supplies and containers full of antibiotics and chemicals were scattered about. Two ancillary rooms were also full of equipment and boxes for the clinic. He found Mordin in the room the doctor had directed him to, working on a medical compound and chattering with his assistants about chemicals he needed.

"Professor Mordin Solus?" Shepard approached the salarian doctor.

The doctor looked up from his console. He had worn, scarred skin and the right crest on his head was broken. He wore a well-kept red and white lab coat over what appeared to be armor.

The salarian quickly activated his omni-tool and scanned them.

"Hmm," he said. "Don't recognize you from area. Too well-armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect. Here for something else? Vorcha? Crew to clean them out? Unlikely. Vorcha symptom, not a cause. The plague? Investigating possible use as bio-weapon? No. Too many guns, not enough data equipment. Soldiers, not scientists. Hired guns, maybe? Looking for someone? Yes! But who? Yes—"

"Relax, Mordin," Shepard interrupted. "I'm Commander Shepard, and I came here to find you. I'm on a critical mission and need your help."

"Mission? What mission?" the fast-talking professor asked. Before Shepard could respond, he then said, "No. Too busy. Clinic understaffed. Plague still spreading. Who sent you? Council or Alliance?"

"The Alliance," Shepard said.

Mordin looked back at the two mercenaries standing behind Shepard. "And what about them?" the professor asked. "Phrygisians new to galaxy. Few venture into the Terminus Systems. And then Aran, the hunter, bane of the Zebesians… Alliance… hiring mercenaries. Alien mercenaries. Desperate, maybe?"

"No," Samus interjected. "We're here because we were involved with the attack on Norion—if you haven't heard already. Desperation has little to nothing to do with it."

"Ah, but more meteors discovered," the salarian said. "Striking multiple worlds in Attican Traverse. Often with Space Pirate assistance. Human colonies in jeopardy. Lives at stake. Phazon… spreading. Desperation may not be here, but it is certainly on the way. Is that why you are here for me?"

Shepard nodded. "We've heard about your work with Phazon before, Professor. The Alliance thought you might be able to help with our team. We need someone who knows how the stuff works and hopefully put a stop to whatever's going on."

"Phazon…" Mordin mumbled. "Interesting. Plague hitting the slums is Phazon based. And Space Pirates one of few species with technology that could engineer such a disease. Our goals may be similar.

"But, must stop plague. Already have cure. Need to distribute at environmental control center. Vorcha guarding it. Need to kill them."

"What exactly is this plague?" Rundas inquired.

"Phazon based," Mordin said. "Deadly, but luckily non-mutagenic. Does not alter genome of victim or attempt to use them as host. Instead alters virus. Makes it more potent, harder to kill. Luckily invented cure. Chemical compound should kill all virus strains of this type. Save district, stop plague. Vorcha only obstacle."

"I'll get it in and deal with the vorcha," Shepard said.

"Can never be easy, can it," Rundas growled. "Well, between the three of us, this should be a breeze."

All of a sudden, there was a grinding halt as fans in the ventilation shafts stopped moving. Warning lights began to flash, and a low-pitched alarm began to sound.

"What was that?" Samus asked.

"Vorcha shut down environmental systems!" Mordin announced, checking the situation with his omni-tool. "Trying to kill everyone. Need to get power back on before district suffocates."

He pulled out a vial from his labcoat. "Here, take plague cure. Put in environmental controls and reactivate. Should distribute it from there. Good luck Shepard. Will be waiting here for your return."

The salarian quickly rushed Shepard and his team out of the room and back into the clinic, pointing them towards the series of corridors that would lead them to the environmental controls.

"Can't it ever be easy?" Rundas asked.

"Never is," Samus replied.

"Come on," Shepard said. "We've got a plague to cure."

After walking not a few hundred meters down through the alloy hallways of the slums, they encountered their first pack of vorcha. The goblin-like aliens opened fire on the group, and they took cover behind several support columns.

"These look wrong," Samus said.

Shepard peeked out from cover to take a better look at the aliens. Their almost smiling, toothy faces and ugly skin were covered in blue veins. A few even had bright, glowing-blue splotches on their shoulders and torsos.

"Phazon corruption!" Rundas announced.

"Take them out!" the commander ordered.

Shepard pulled out his sniper rifle and began targeting the furthest vorcha, leaving the closer ones to Rundas. Disruptor rounds fired from the rifle slammed into the faces of the ugly aliens. One, two, three, four, and then five dropped as the bullets flew through their skulls, completely preventing their regeneration abilities from taking hold.

Rundas was dealing with the nearer ones, taking them out with his cryo blasts. The vorcha, for the most part, seemed to resist the first two or three impacts of the freezing rounds, but eventually they succumbed to ice buildup and tumbled over.

Samus fired her plasma weapon, melting the exoskeletons of the vorcha. But, their ability to regenerate seemed to counter the attacks. While staggering the goblin-like creatures, they were able to rebound and fire back. Samus advanced, and ducked under cover to avoid their shots.

An armored vorcha emerged, toting a massive flamethrower in its claws. Deadly flames spouted from the device as the creature let loose a gargled laugh.

Samus muttered a curse under her breath and activated a holographic pad on her arm cannon, tapping in commands into the weapon. When it was ready, she burst out of cover and aimed at the pyro. She squeezed and held the trigger. An orb of plasma built up in the weapon's barrel. When it hit a critical level, Samus let go of the trigger, and the blast flew into the vorcha. The attack melted its armor and exploded the flamethrower's fuel pods. The alien died instantly, and the blast from his weapon killed several others nearby.

Shepard and Rundas took down the remaining vorcha, and the group moved into the next corridor. Several more vorcha were there to greet them, but they were quickly dispatched.

As they neared the environmental control center, they entered into what appeared to be a massive ventilation shaft or some sort of exchange area. Atop the far end of the shaft were small platforms at the ends of large ventilation tubes. The platform they stood on ran along the near end of the shaft, and curved off towards the control center several hundred meters away.

A rocket whizzed past Samus' head and exploded behind her.

"Heavies," the bounty hunter stated flatly. "They're up there."

Shepard looked up with his rifle scope and saw a multitude of vorcha running along the platform underneath the vents. They all carried rocket launchers.

"You move ahead!" the commander ordered. "I'll take care of them."

Samus and Rundas nodded and moved ahead.

Shepard raised his rifle again and targeted the nearest vorcha. He fired, and the round tore through the creature's skull. It fell forward and tumbled off the platform into the abyss below. Shepard continued his rampage, letting loose several more rounds, and killing several more of the aliens.

The two mercenaries moved forward on the platform, plowing through several vorcha that were wielding assault rifles. They quickly brought the aliens down, and moved further down the platform. They could now see the bridge leading to the environmental control center. vorcha, supported by two well-armed krogan warriors, dispersed across the platform, taking up defensive positions. Luckily, they had the high ground. Samus cracked a smile, and the mercenaries went to work.

Shepard dodged a missile and targeted its owner. The disruptor round sailed through the air and into its head, killing it instantly. However, it had loaded another rocket. In its death thralls, the creature managed to let loose a final shot. The missile flew across the chasm towards the bridge that Samus and Rundas were storming.

But, rather than hitting the mercenaries, the rocket careened into one of the krogan, shattering the lizardlike alien's armor with a thunderous explosion. The hulking alien staggered forward as his armored plating fragmented off of him.

Samus took the chance, firing several plasma orbs straight into the krogan's maw. It screamed as its unprotected mouth began to melt. The female huntress fired four final shots, ending the alien's suffering.

Rundas finished off another group of vorcha, blasting them with his ice beam and then smashing their frozen forms to pieces. After finishing off the final, goblin-like alien, he caught sight of the second krogan preparing to charge Samus. The Phrygisian attacked, firing two beams of ice at the alien's wrists. The krogan growled as its weapon hand froze solid. It caught sight of Rundas and charged him instead.

The two caught each other's hands, Rundas holding off the krogan's icy fists. They growled at each other, both of equal height and strength.

"Weakling newcomer," the krogan growled. "My race has always brought down monsters like you."

Rundas grunted as the krogan began to push him back. He planted his armored feet and pushed back, this time gaining the upper hand in the battle of power.

"But I am no monster," the Phrygisian hissed.

The krogan grappled again and locked the two in place. He then growled, "I will triumph! I am a krogan! Scourge of the Rachni! I have bested Thresher Maws and turian spec ops! No one can beat me!"

Then, next to the krogan's face, echoed the sound of a plasma weapon charging to full power.

"How about human mercenaries?" an orange clad human warrior said. She fired the charge blast, which obliterated the krogan's skull. His body slumped to the ground, dead.

"Thanks?" Rundas said, letting go of the alien's frozen wrists.

"Don't mention it," Samus replied. "As long as it stops that cheesy verbal combat I'll be fine."

Shepard finished off the last vorcha rocket trooper and met up with the rest of the group.

"Come on," he said. "Let's finish this."

The group made their way across the bridge and through several corridors to the control center.

Sadly, there was a group to meet them.

Standing at the main control center of the room were three vorcha. They whirled around to greet the team that had just entered their domain. They were covered in Phazon, their bodies nearly dominated by the glowing, blue substance. One of them even had what appeared to be a massive crystal of the stuff growing from his shoulder.

The lead vorcha let out an animalistic hiss. "Raah! You know come here!" it shouted. "We shut down machines. Break fans! Everyone choke and die! Then Pirates make us strong!"

"What do the pirates want?" Shepard inquired, leveling his pistol at the threat.

"They want plague!" the vorcha hissed back. "You work for doctor! Turn on machines! Put cure in air! WE KILL YOU FIRST!"

The vorcha attacked, but were quickly brought down by a single volley of fire from Shepard, Samus, and Rundas. Their lifeless bodies hit the ground in unison.

"There," Samus said, pointing to the console the vorcha had been using. "That should be the primary controls. We can inject the cure there and boot up the systems."

Shepard approached the console and put the cure vials Mordin had given them into a sort of repository station. He pressed a few buttons, and the hologram displayed the ventilation systems.

"Looks like we'll need to turn on the fans," Rundas said.

The sound of angry vorcha echoed through the vents around them. They were about to be put under some heavy fire very fast.

"Let's split up," Shepard ordered. "Samus, you take the left fans. I'll take the right. Rundas, you hold off those vorcha."

"Will do," Rundas said, priming his cryogenic weaponry.

Samus immediately sprinted off in the direction of her fan station. Shepard left as well. Not a moment later he could hear the sounds of combat echoing from the control center. Rundas had engaged the enemy.

Ahead, another pack of vorcha emerged. Shepard shot down two with his sniper rifle, but the weapon overheated. He exchanged it for a pistol and armed it with incendiary rounds. Several enemy bullets impacted his kinetic barriers, staggering the commander. He took cover behind a support column and opened fire. His bullets consumed two combatants in flames.

A flamethrower-wielding trooper emerged, engulfing the corridor in front of him with flames. Shepard smiled and waited for it to stop firing. When it let up to let its weapon exchange heat, Shepard took his chance. The commander leaned out of cover and took careful aim at the large tank of fuel that stuck out from the alien's backpack. He let loose one shot, which sailed through the air between them. The flaming round slammed into the fuel cell and ignited the contents.

There was a massive explosion. When Shepard exited his cover, nothing was left but the charred corpses of the remaining vorcha.

Shepard entered the fan control suite and reactivated the fans.

"That's one," Shepard said into the communications link. "How's it going on your end, Samus?"

"Just fine," the mercenary responded. "One second."

The sound of gunfire and discharging plasma weaponry blasted through the comm. link. The whole cacophony was ended by a single fleshy crunch. A high-pitched squeal emanated from the source of the crunch, and was then silenced by a charged plasma bolt from Samus' arm cannon.

"There," Samus said. The second set of fans turned on. "There was a krogan in my way."

"This is Rundas," the Phrygisian chimed into the comm. "The vorcha are retreating. Blasted cowards. You think they'd at least try to undo our work."

"Let's regroup and head back to the clinic," Shepard suggested. "Hopefully Mordin will join up now."

* * *

The group returned to the clinic to find the salarian doctor in fairly high spirits.

"Environmental systems engaged," the salarian announced cheerfully. "Airborne viral levels dropping. Patients improving. Vorcha retreating. Well done, Shepard. Thank you."

"Well, we've cured the plague," Shepard said. "Are you ready to help me with this Phazon crisis."

"Yes," the salarian replied. "Unexpected to be working with Alliance. Many surprises. Just need to finish here at the clinic. Won't take long. Having my assistant, Daniel, take over. Won't be long. Meet you at your ship. Looking forward to it."

* * *

Mordin sat in the conference room on the SSV Normandy, admiring the ship's architecture.

"Welcome aboard the Normandy, professor," Shepard said as he entered the room. "It's an honor to have you on board."

"Yes, yes. Very exciting," the salarian chirped. "Alliance working with Aliens unexpected, but not unprecedented." He nodded toward the commander. "Glad to be working with the first human specter. Heard about Norion attack. Space Pirates, commanded by a Lord… Ridley, I believe."

"You seem very well informed," Shepard exclaimed.

"Salarian government well connected," Mordin explained. "Espionage experts. Had top level clearance once. Retired now. Did not have time to get details. Just rumors and guesses from some poorly encrypted Phrygisian communiques."

Rundas entered the room. "Well, even if you or your people are listening in on mine, we'll still need you," he said. "Space Pirates have been escorting these objects called 'Leviathan Seeds' towards inhabited worlds. We still don't know why." He shook his head. "In fact, I just heard word that a turian colony was attacked. The seed made impact. They had to bomb the thing from orbit…"

"Hmm…" Mordin said, pacing the floor. "Meteor strikes maybe? No. Too destructive. Expansive mining possibility? No. Would mine Seed itself, not crack planet surface with it. Too dangerous. Perhaps—"

"You don't need to sit there and guess, professor," Shepard interrupted. "Some friends of ours have already collected samples from an impact not too long ago. I'd like you to analyze the data. We could also use countermeasures to Phazon radiation."

"Ah, excellent!" Mordin said. "Good to know humans on top of things. Will need a lab to work in."

"We've set up a lab behind Dr. Chakwas' medical bay," Shepard informed. "If you need anything else, we can request stuff as soon as possible."

"Even better!" Mordin exclaimed.

"One question," Shepard said. "One of the vorcha said that the Space Pirates gave them the plague. Do you have any idea why they would do this?"

Mordin put his hand to his chin in thought. "Hmm... Pirates known for scientific endeavors. Oftentimes risky. Riskier than krogan uplift by salarians. And unnecessary. Perhaps planned as a bioweapon? That would be most likely scenario."

"That makes sense."

Mordin nodded. "It should." He looked around aimlessly for a second. "Which way to lab?"

"Follow me, Professor," Rundas said. He led the salarian out of the conference room and down to the lab.

Shepard left the room as well and walked into the CIC. He checked some personal messages until ,suddenly,a voice called out for him.

"Commander!"

Shepard turned to find Engineer Adams walking up to meet him.

"What's wrong, Adams?" Shepard asked.

"Well, it's actually about one of our engineers," Adams said, "not the engine itself. I'm starting to worry about Tali. She's gotten quieter than usual. It's like she's purposefully avoiding conversation."

"What do you think's wrong, Adams?"

"I don't know," he said. "That's why I wanted you to talk to her. She seems to have one heck of an admiration for you. When she got back on board, most of what she talked about was you and your feats back during the geth attacks. I figured you might be able to get something out of her."

Shepard thought back to his last conversation with Tali. He could not really think of anything he had said to upset her. They had discussed the mission on Haestrom and talked about quarian culture. Tali had mentioned something about linking suits with another and—

The commander remembered how she sounded depressed at Shepard's response. "Maybe you'll find someone worth trusting" he had said. Had that depressed her in some way?

Shepard told Adams he would look into it and made the trek down to the engineering bay to talk with the quarian.

Tali was in her usual place, at a console overlooking the reactor core. She did not turn to greet him. Instead, she simply greeted him with a, "Hey, Shepard." Her voice did sound quite depressed.

"Adams said there was something wrong," Shepard informed her. "Are you holding up okay."

She turned to face the commander. "No… nothing's wrong," Tali said. "I've just been thinking a little too much, and I'm a little tired."

"Well, it sounds like it started after I talked to you last," Shepard added. "Did I say something to upset you?"

"Oh, no," Tali replied, masking a faint sting of sarcasm. "I just figured you weren't int—never mind."

Shepard suddenly caught on. "Wait, Tali. Were you trying to suggest something?"

"What could I possibly have been suggesting?" Tali asked. "A young woman gets rescued by a dashing commander who lets her join his crew and then goes off to save the galaxy? How could she possibly develop any kind of interest in him?"

Shepard was a bit taken back. He was not used to… romantic talk. Sure, he had had girlfriends back on Mindoir before… the attack. But after that he had been dedicated to the Alliance. Making himself the best soldier he could be. Romance had been kind of out of the question.

And now an alien was actually asking him to… Well, she was a good person. Shepard had enjoyed working with her… and her new envirosuit was rather attractive. But…

"Are you okay?" Tali asked. "I didn't mean… I mean… Keelah…"

"Sorry," Shepard replied. "I just… well. Been a while, I guess. I mean, I do kind of…"

"Really? I didn't! You never—" she relaxed a little. "Well, good."

The crushing awkwardness of the moment fell upon them both.

Shepard searched for something to say. "Well, if you want, maybe after recruiting Archangel, we can… uh. Well, I have a collection vids I've gotten over the past two years."

"I might stop by then," Tali said uncomfortably.

"Anything in particular?"

"Uh… not really, I guess," she responded.

"I'll think about it then?"

"Sure."

They stood there for a moment, neither really having words.

"I should… you know, get back to work," Tali finally stated, breaking the silence. "Or… something."

"Yeah, sure. You do that," Shepard said.

"Thanks for stopping by. And… talking…" She turned back to her console.

Shepard shook his head, wondering what the heck had just happened.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, that took a little longer than expected. The chapter was also longer than expected... weird. Expect the chapters to update a little slower from now on. I've been working on this in small increments of time between practice and school and work, so it has been moving a lot slower than intended.

Anyway, Mordin's now on the team, and Archangel's next. And we've learned this Shepard's first name! We're going to start learning about some of the characters' (Samus, Rundas, and Shepard, in specific) backstories shortly. Also, Shepard's entering a tentative ship with Tali. Yeah, whatever. Don't worry, this actually has some purpose towards Shep's character development, which we'll start seeing as this progresses. It'll also provide some tension as well, but that's for later chapters.

Next time, we get to meet the "Archangel of Omega". Fans of ME know who that is, but I'll still keep it as a hidden reveal.

Please follow/favorite and review! Any (constructive) criticism is definitely welcome. What do you think works? What do you think doesn't. Have any speculation as to the story's direction. Please! Anything helps!


	5. Chapter 4: Archangel of Omega

Rundas passed by Samus again. The hunter was again sitting at the mess table completely alone. She appeared to be in deep thought, although for her, that seemed to be the usual behavior in between missions.

The Phrygisian approached Samus, this time hoping for a better response.

"You still going to stay quiet?" he asked, standing on her right.

The huntress shrugged. "I think better when I'm quiet."

"You said you think too much a while ago. I figured you might want some conversation."

Samus shook her head. "Words are overrated. They get in the way… far too often."

Rundas slouched against a wall and thought for a moment. "Sometimes," he finally replied. "At others, they're very useful. Imagine if Shepard wasn't ordering us around? We'd just be loose guns killing every blasted thing that comes near us."

Samus shook her head again, but this time with a small, humored smile glinting under her visor. "Or the crisis would be over. I've taken care of stuff like this myself before, you know."

"Oh really?"

Samus smiled. "Planet Zebes. Heard of it?"

Rundas was surprised. "You were behind that?"

The golden-clad huntress nodded. "I set off the reactor in the Pirate base. Killed every one of them. Well… all but one…"

Rundas noticed the girl shudder slightly, probably in memory.

"What is your story?" he whispered under his breath.

"It's a long one," Samus replied, evidently having heard the Phrygisian's quiet statement.

"Well, we've got time. Shepard's still gearing up for the next mission." He laughed. "I think he got flustered somehow by his last conversation with that quarian."

"Tell you what," the huntress said. "If you tell me your story, I'll give you mine. Deal?"

"Seems fair enough," Rundas shrugged. "When I was sixteen, I signed up for the Federation Military. Wanted to see the galaxy, you know? I signed on for a three year term. It went by fast, but I saw a lot wrong with the way our governments fought wars. They're always too political, and the larger army gets so bogged down in litigation they can barely do anything, leaving Pirates or whatever else to get their way.

"When I got out, I became a mercenary, taking odd jobs for multiple clients. Figured I could bring about more justice on my own. Never any that would harm civilians, though. I wanted to keep it clean. But a year later… everything went to hell. That was when we began debating whether or not to open the mass relay into your space. Some thought that, after contact with the Space Pirates, we should just avoid activating new relays altogether to avoid other hostile races. But the Federation remained adamant, claiming that we could advance our culture much further once contact was established with other races—if there were any.

"But the opposition grew. Then, on Horus, one of our colonies, it started. A group of insurgents started a war to overthrow the Federation to prevent opening those relays. The coup was massive, and the fleet was immediately scrambled. But more supporters began to join their cause. What followed was six long, bloody years of battle. I was caught up in the fray, running strike operations for the Federation. They paid me well, and ran more operations than some of our best teams. But I also did a lot of things I regret."

The alien stared off into space a moment, probably recalling events from the war. Samus was rather astonished at this. She had not known there had been a war for first contact in the Talon Spur. There certainly were not many signs of battle. Perhaps his species had cleaned it up to look better?

"But I guess you know how that story ends," the Phrygisian finished. "I'm here, after all. And the colony of Horus is nothing but a burnt-out husk."

"You were a mercenary for a government?" Samus asked.

"For a time, yes. Now, I'm just back to a standard merc doing jobs for people like Shepard."

"What did you do after the war was over?"

Rundas let out a short laugh. "I took some of the money they gave me and bought a small house back up in the mountains on Phrygis. I mostly use it to keep trophies, but it's good to have a place to go relax now and then."

"You keep trophies?"

"From every mission, yes," he replied. "I have a whole room in my house for display. Every mission I've done, I've kept a… souvenir or two. Weapons, armor, unknown tech. A few animal heads. And a Zebesian in a cryo tube. That one's a good conversation piece."

Samus let out a short laugh before stopping herself.

Rundas 'smiled'. "Well, there's my story. Your turn."

Samus sighed. "You really want to know?"

The alien nodded and took a seat at the table.

The female hunter let out a short breath of air. "I was born on a colony on the edge of the Terminus Systems," she began. "I barely remember it… When I was three, a group of batarian pirates attacked. They slaughtered everyone on the colony, including my parents. My mother died right in front of me… stopped a bullet to…"

She grew quiet for a moment.

"If it's that hard, you don't need to tell me," Rundas said.

Samus shook her head and removed her helmet. Rundas was shocked at her face. She looked almost too young, just barely in her twenties. She had delicate features, and long, blonde hair that trailed to her shoulders.

"It's fine," she said. "Just… hard to think about. I'm sure you know."

Rundas nodded. "What happened then?"

"The batarian turned to kill me. That was when his head exploded." She cracked a smile. "Turned out an old turian was visiting the colony. Old bird felt guilty for what he did back on Shanxi, and was trying to atone for what he did there. He figured saving me was the least he could do. Eventually, he kind of became my father."

"You were raised by turians?"

"A turian," Samus corrected. "As I grew up, he trained me. Made sure I was the best a human could be. That's part of the reason I'm very good at what I do. He wanted to make sure that if anything like the First Contact War happened again, I would be able to defend myself. Eventually, with his permission, I joined the Alliance Military at the youngest age I could. I was bounced around a few years, under the command of this guy named Adam Malkovich. He was a good officer. Smart, bright… Always called me "lady" for some reason. Probably would have sounded demeaning coming from anyone else."

"So what made you become a mercenary?" Rundas asked.

Samus frowned. "After first contact with your region of space, the Alliance sent our squad to a planet called Talon IV…"

"Talon IV?" Rundas inquired. "That's a restricted no-fly zone! An archaeological preserve to my species and it's pretty much always been controlled by Space Pirates."

"I know!" Samus shouted, getting almost unreasonably angered by Rundas' statement. "We all knew. That's why it was classified. That's why there isn't any damn squad anymore!"

The female hunter buried her face in her hands for a moment, nearly on the verge of crying. "While down there, we were supposed to gather samples from some of the ruins. Then, he attacked."

"He?"

"Ridley," Samus hissed. "Leader of the Space Pirates there. He slaughtered my squad. Every one of them. I thought he was going to kill me as well but…"

"But he didn't," Rundas finished.

"I wish he did…" Samus stated, her tone growing surprisingly cold.

Before Samus could finish her story, the ship's intercom crackled to life. Shepard's voice echoed through it. "Rundas, Samus, could you report to the airlock. We're going to be going in for Archangel now."

"Guess we've got to go," Rundas said.

Samus nodded and put her helmet back on. "I'll tell you what…" she said. "When we get some free time. I'll do better than tell you the rest of the story. I'll show you."

"Alright," Rundas answered.

"And… thanks… For listening."

The Phrygisian nodded. He was intrigued by what she meant by showing him her past, but he did not have time to ask. They made their way up to the airlock. Commander Shepard was already waiting for them, dressed in his full N7 armor.

"Ready, you two?"

They nodded, and the squad departed out the airlock and back into the musty streets of Omega.

* * *

A few hours later, Shepard and his team had successfully been recruited as freelancing mercenaries for the Blue Suns mercenary group in order to prepare for the strike on Archangel's base. Shepard had also stopped some young punk from signing up, probably saving the kid's life. Now, they were exploring the staging ground to set up for the attack before going to save this self-righteous hero.

Three of the most powerful private armies had banned together to take down this one vigilante. They had learned that the Blue Suns were acting as the brains and bulk behind the operation, being both the tactical leaders for the attack and the final wave of assault on Archangel's holdout. The Eclipse was loaning their best snipers and mechanized defense drones to the cause. Their leader, Jaroth, had lost his brother to the vigilante and his team, and he had turned the battle into a personal vendetta. The krogan and vorcha run Blood Pack was going to provide the deadly second wave, promising to obliterate the vigilante before he could make a run from his base. They were making their way through tunnels underneath the building Archangel was in and were planning to attack from below. Their leader, Garm, was eager to fight Archangel for a second time, evidently.

The freelancers, like Shepard and his squad, were going to make the first assault on the base. A suicide run. The perfect time to reveal their true motives.

Shepard passed through a small alcove between the Eclipse and Blood Pack encampments, when Samus spoke up.

"Hold on, Commander," she said. "Look."

Shepard peeked through the doorway Samus had motioned to. Stored in the room were the Eclipse mechs, including a very dangerous YMIR heavy mech.

"We could reprogram their targeting systems from here and screw up their plan of attack before it starts," the bounty hunter proposed.

"Good idea," Shepard said. He made sure no one was looking and walked in. He approached the YMIR, activated his omni-tool, and began to reprogram the drone's friend/foe identification system. Within a few seconds, he had rewritten the robot's programming, making it hostile to anything that came nearby.

"There, now it will attack anything they throw at us," Shepard said.

"Can't wait to see this," Rundas laughed.

They made their way to Cathka, the batarian Blue Suns merc in charge of the freelancer operation. He was behind a massive A-16 Mantis gunship. The narrow, lightly-armored but heavily armed aerial vehicle dominated the hangar. However, it looked like it was undergoing heavy repairs.

Shepard approached the batarian.

"Cathka?" he asked.

The batarian was busy using an arc welder to mend some of the gunship's armor. He turned off the tool and stood up, turning off a welding polarizer on his helmet's visor.

"Sergeant Cathka," the batarian growled. "Ah. You must be the group that Salkie mentioned. Just in time."

"Were you waiting for us?" Shepard asked.

"The infiltration team's about to give us a signal," Cathka informed. "Archangel won't know what hit him. Got any questions? This may be your last chance." He lit a cigarette and took a few draws.

Shepard waved away the smoke. "Are you leading the assault?"

"Hah! Tarak doesn't pay me to fight," he said. "I just plan the attacks and fix the damn gunship. You freelancers get the privilege of—"

He was cut off by an alert from a nearby computer console.

"Check," he growled into his radio. "Bravo team! Go! Go! Go!"

A group of freelancers took off onto the bridge between the mercenary's ground and Archangels base. Several sniper rounds took out a group of the mercs as they attempted to cross the bridge. The marksmanship was impressive, to say the least.

"Looks like they've started the attack," Cathka stated. "You guys better get out there." He turned back to the gunship. "But that means no more work for me. I've got to have this damn thing back in flying shape before Tarak wants it."

Shepard motioned for them to leave, and he and Rundas headed to join the freelancers on the bridge. Hopefully they would make it through before Archangel had a chance to kill them.

However, Samus lingered behind. She had noticed the batarian set his portable welder on a counter earlier, and she had come up with a plan to put the gunship out of action for good. She grabbed the welder and approached the mechanic.

"You work too much," she stated darkly. And with that, she plunged the item into the batarian's back.

From the sounds of the ongoing attack, no one heard the screams of the batarian as he died from electrocution.

Samus caught up with the other two.

"Where were you?" Rundas asked.

"Just took care of some business," the hunter replied in cold tone.

"Come on, let's move," Shepard ordered.

The group leapt over the barricade the mercs had set up and onto the bridge that separated the staging area from Archangel's fortress. Freelancers rushed in, but were quickly taken down by precise sniper fire. Shepard and his team sped across the bridge, ignoring the bodies and blood filling the bridge's surface.

They entered the building. Mercenaries were already clammering up the stairs to the second level, hoping to take the killing shot at Archangel.

"All right," Shepard said. "Let's give them our little surprise."

All three of them opened fire on the mercs, their bodies falling in quick succession.

"They're with Archangel!" one of them shouted. He was taken down by a cryo blast from Rundas.

A stray shot from Samus' arm cannon hit a fuel container, and it exploded. Several freelancers were caught in the blast, torn apart by shrapnel or knocked dead by the sheer concussive force.

Shepard killed a final mercenary with his sniper rifle. "Okay. Samus, you stay down here," he ordered. "Make sure no one else tries to get in. We'll go talk to Archangel."

The gold-clad bounty hunter nodded. Rundas and Shepard walked up stairs and entered a small apartment that overlooked the bridge.

On the far side of the room, staring down at the bridge through the sights of a sniper rifle.

"Archangel?" Shepard asked. The vigilante wore blue and black turian armor. So they at least knew his race.

The mercenary raised a finger, signaling the two to wait. He then took careful aim down his rifle and sent a bullet through a mercenary's head.

Once the kill was done, Archangel stood up and turned around. He set his rifle against the wall. The vigilante took a seat on top of a chair and removed his helmet, greeting Shepard with a very familiar face.

"Shepard," the turian said. "Been a while."

"Garrus!" Shepard shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"Just… keeping my skills sharp," the ex-C-sec cop said. "A little target practice."

"You okay?"

"Been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face. Killing mercs is hard work. Especially on my own."

"Wait," Rundas asked, "you two know each other?"

"Garrus was one of my crew during the mission to take down Saren," Shepard said. "Best damn sniper in the galaxy."

"I wouldn't go as far to say that," Garrus added, modestly. "But my skills certainly haven't been wasted."

"Well, I saw your work out there," the Phrygisian said, gesturing out the window. "Impressive."

Garrus let out a rather sullen laugh.

"So how'd you manage to piss off every major merc group in the Terminus?" Shepard asked.

"It wasn't easy," Garrus said in a sarcastic tone. "I really had to work at it. I am amazed that they teamed up to fight me. They must really hate me."

Shepard shook his head. "So why Omega of all places? And why didn't you contact me."

The turian shrugged. "After we finished with Saren, I… well, you know all of that. But I wanted to do real good. Take down criminals, just like you and I did with Dr. Saleon a few years back. At least here if I want to find evil I just point my gun and shoot." He paused for a second. "As for not answering your messages, well you don't see many extranet terminals around here, do you?"

Shepard's radio crackled to life. "Shepard, this is Samus," the female huntress announced. "The lower floor's clear, but it looks like they're up to something."

"Alright, we'll start setting up," Shepard replied. "Get ready for battle."

"Wait?" Garrus asked. "Samus? Samus Aran?"

Rundas nodded.

"The Samus Aran is here? I've heard of his exploits even during my time here. He sounds like one hell of a soldier."

"Yeah," Rundas laughed. "He's a she, actually."

Shepard and Rundas approached the door. Garrus, however, paused for a second.

"Samus is a girl?" he thought aloud for a second. He then quickly joined the others, raising his sniper rifle to get a better look. "Eclipse. Security mechs," he informed. "Looks like the first part of an assault wave. Scouts, probably."

Shepard pulled out his rifle as well. He looked at the gathering one-eyed, humanoid robots that were slowly shambling onto the bridge. He fired a single bullet, which tore through the lead scout's head.

"Definitely scouts," the commander agreed. "One less now."

"We'll have to make this quick," Garrus said. "We'll take out what they send at us and wait for a crack in their defenses. Then we'll make a break for it. With luck we'll make it." The turian shook his head. "It's not a good plan, but it is a plan. I can do the most damage from up here. You… you do what you do best."

Shepard smiled and readied his rifle.

"Just like old times," Garrus said, smiling back.

"Rundas," Shepard ordered. "Go support Samus in the basement. We'll take care of everything up here."

"Got it," the Phrygisian said. He clamored down to the basement. Samus was already laying down a hail of plasma fire upon the incoming robots. The barrel of her weapon smoldered with the heat of all its shots.

Rundas fired several cryogenic blasts at the mechs. One made contact and froze the thing solid. It toppled over as its joints froze. A moment later, and the whole thing shut down from ice buildup. Rundas took out another, and another.

Samus was bringing down mechs left and right as well. She was enjoying the one-sided battle a bit too much. When Shepard and Garrus brought down a hail of sniper fire, not unlike a strafing run by aircraft support, she could not help but smile.

More mechs kept coming, but the group's combined efforts took them down just as easily as when they came.

Eventually, a new group mounted the barrier. Salarian engineers and human soldiers began entering the fray, supported by their mechanical bullet sponges.

"We got snipers inbound!" Samus shouted through the radio, seeing several rifle-bearing mercs setting up on the barrier.

"I've got them," the flanging voice of Garrus responded. A moment later, two bullets brought down their respective snipers quickly. Several more shots rained down, taking out the rest of the Eclipse marksmen.

Samus and Rundas laid down a crossfire of plasma and ice beams, cutting down the Eclipse mercs as they sprinted across the bridge. Shepard and Garrus' rifle support only put more pressure on the mercenaries, who were taking heavy losses. Archangel had been more than enough for them to deal with. Now that he had three of the best warriors in the galaxy supporting him, he had become damn near unstoppable.

From his position, Garrus saw an Eclipse YMIR heavy mech being carried onto the field by a levitating cargo unit. The unit dropped the robot and it began to activate.

"Heavy inbound!" the turian shouted.

"That problem should take care of itself," Shepard said.

The robot turned around and began firing on the Eclipse, killing them in droves. Their salarian leader also fell to the hulking automaton. Eventually, the robot managed to slaughter the rest of the attacking mercenaries.

However, once all the nearby targets had been eliminated, it turned on the rest of the group.

"Crap," Garrus muttered, ducking under the window.

"We've got it!" Rundas shouted through the comm. He and Samus opened fire, pounding the hulking mecha with ice and plasma. The attack overcame the armored titan, and it fell over. Its reactor core exploded, blasting the remains of the robot into warped metal shards.

"Alright, looks like that's it for now," Garrus sighed, relived. "But there should be more soon." He surveyed the destruction on the bridge. The remains of dozens of mercs, mechs, and thermal clips both used and unused littered the causeway leading to their holdout. The turian smiled.

"So now what?" Shepard asked, placing his sniper rifle onto the hardpoint on his back.

"We wait," the turian vigilante responded. "At least we took out most of the Eclipse. And we got their leader too. That should halt their operations in this area for some time."

An explosion sounded from the basement.

"What was that?" Garrus asked.

Samus' voice sounded from the radio. "We've got company!" she announced. "Blood Pack mercs are coming through the tunnels!"

"Damn," Garrus cursed. "Well they had to use their brains eventually."

"Can you guys stop them?" Shepard asked.

"They should be able to," Garrus said. "There are bulletproof shutters leading to the tunnels. Seal those, and you'll stop the mercs." The turian looked at the window. "Crap, they're coming in up here too!"

Shepard looked to see a horde of vorcha lead by krogan warriors storming towards the base.

"You two get to the shutters!" the commander ordered. "We'll hold them off up here!"

Samus nodded and rushed through the basement door, Rundas following not far after. They reached the first corridor and activated the shutter. The door slammed shut, blocking off access.

"Two more," Samus observed, seeing two other corridors on either side of the room.

"I'll take the one on the right," Rundas said, rushing through the door.

Samus shook her head. The act was foolish, but she had to admire his reckless courage. She dashed down the left corridor. Garrus must have set up barriers long before the attack, as piles of equipment were staged in intervals along the narrow corridor. Vorcha were already making their way through the passage. When they caught sight of Samus, they opened fire.

The gold-clad bounty hunter returned fire, killing several with high-powered plasma blasts. She leapt over the barricades and over the dead vorcha that were beginning to line the corridor.

Within moments, she reached the shutter. However, waiting to greet her was a massive krogan. The hulking alien grabbed Samus by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall. Samus responded with a kick straight into the alien's quad. The krogan growled in pain, losing its grip for a moment. Samus took that chance to grab its right arm and pull herself off the wall. She twisted the alien's limb in a way it was not meant to bend until she felt the satisfying crunch of a breaking limb.

The krogan let out a painful growl as its arm broke. It then lunged at Samus. She jumped high up into the corridor, using her armor's jets to propel her close to the ceiling. She landed against the wall and then jumped towards the krogan. She connected with it and brought the alien to the ground. She fired several plasma rounds into the krogan's face with her wrist cannon. With a final spout of gargled curses, the alien died.

Samus activated the shutter control, and the door closed with a loud _"clank"_.

"Rundas, how you doing?" she asked into the radio.

"Just fine!" the Phrygisian responded cheerfully. "Just finished closing the shutter. I'm picking off their leftover troops now."

Garrus' voice echoed over the comm. "The Blood Pack leader just broke through with his bodyguards!" he shouted. "We need backup!"

The two hunters quickly met up and ran back into Garrus' makeshift fort. There were several krogan marching up the steps to where Shepard and Garrus were held up. Rundas took down two with a series of cryo blasts, while Samus managed to bring one down with her plasma cannon. The two then rushed up to challenge the aliens. While they kept the last two bodyguards, Garm—the leader—stormed into the room where Shepard and Garrus were.

"ARCHANGEL!" the krogan bellowed, readying his shotgun.

The two soldiers whirled around, readying their rifles as the krogan lumbered towards them at an alarming pace. They opened fire, sniper rounds tunneling in through Garm's eyes.

And the krogan—now blinded—still charged, spraying buckshot with his weapon across the room. Shepard's shields flared as he ducked behind the couch. The blinded krogan was laughing madly, firing shots wherever he heard what he thought were his foes.

Garrus retrieved a knife from a nearby table and lobbed the weapon at the alien. The blade embedded itself within Garm's thick, plated skull with no effect. The krogan continued to fire. And laugh. His maddening laughter and near masochistic joy of the moment was horrifying.

Shepard and Garrus fired another volley with their rifles, tearing apart Garm's armor and making it resemble Swiss cheese rather than combat gear. The krogan continued to attack, gargling curses the whole way.

Finally, when it nearly seemed like the mad alien was invincible, two blasts of ice froze its legs to the floor. A plasma blast later, and Garm's charred corpse hit the floor.

Garrus and Shepard peeked out from behind the couch to see Samus and Rundas standing in the doorway, their weapons still smoldering from the fight.

"That was one tough bastard," Shepard stated, looking at the krogan's eyeless, bloodied corpse.

"I fought him before," Garrus said, shaking his head. "Very tough. Regens way too fast for a normal krogan. Some kind of freak of nature. But I guess that doesn't matter now. He's dead."

Suddenly, without warning, the blackened arm of Garm shot out and latched onto the barrel of Garrus' rifle. "Like hell I am!" the krogan leader growled through his blood-filled mouth. He yanked the weapon from the turian's hands and was able to regain his footing. He lunged, grabbing Garrus by the neck and charging the window, blank eye sockets still leaking orange-red blood. He held the turian vigilante out over the ledge. "Now you die!"

Shepard leapt onto the burned krogan's back and yanked him around, returning Garrus to the room's floor. The commander proceeded to hack away at the hump of the alien with his omni-tool's blade. The krogan laughed and charged Garrus, somehow sensing the turian's presence. Garrus rolled to avoid the attack. Shepard was shaken off by the alien's gait. Samus and Rundas fired several bursts of plasma and ice, all of which connected with the krogan's body but seemed unable to affect him.

Garrus found a pistol on the floor and grabbed it. Garm made another charge, heading straight for Garrus. The turian thrust his new weapon forward and landed it in the krogan's open maw. He fired once. Then twice. Then again. And again. And again. He emptied the weapon's entire clip into Garm's eyeless skull. When Garrus removed his blood-drenched hand from the krogan's mouth, the alien toppled like a sandbag.

"What the hell was that?" Samus asked.

"Like I said," Garrus replied, still trying to catch his breath. "Freak of nature. Coupled with a redundant nervous system and general krogan resistance and you have a recipe for disaster." He glanced back at the corpse and whispered, "Sprits, I've never seen anything that terrifying before, though."

Shepard looked down upon Garm's twice-killed body, still worried that the krogan would again leap up and attack.

"Well, Blood Pack and Eclipse are down now," Shepard said, still eyeing Garm's corpse. "What do you think we should do now?"

Garrus checked the mercs barricade at the far end of the bridge through the scope of his sniper rifle. "Well, all that's left are the Blue Suns. They're tough, but no worse than anything we've faced before. And with your mercenary friends, well…"

The sound of a mass effect drive at work distracted the team. A gunship suddenly appeared outside the window of the far side of the room.

"ARCHANGEL!" the ship's pilot announced through a loudspeaker, unleashing a stream of bullets into the room. Everyone dove for cover as the projectiles tore through the couches and tables lying about the apartment.

"Damn," Garrus cursed. "I thought I put that thing out of commission!"

"Looks like they fixed it," Shepard growled.

"Not completely," Samus informed them. "I saw to that."

"Alright, team, open fire!" Shepard shouted.

They began firing on the gunship's wings and mass effect field generators, tearing through the craft's heavy armor plating. The pilot uttered a foul batarian curse and pulled out of view. A moment later, and Blue Suns soldiers began rapelling into the room.

"Here they come!" Rundas shouted, killing one with an overcharged cryo blast. The group laid down a heavy amount of covering fire. Samus' plasma cannon downed the oncoming warrior's barriers with superheated gasses. Shepard's rifle picked off soldiers one by win, turning their heads into clouds of fine mist. And Rundas' ice-wielding, alien firepower scared the living hell out of the mercs.

Eventually, the final centurion hit the floor. The gunship returned again. From the way it flew, everyone in the group could tell that the pilot was beginning to panic. "You're not escaping this time!" he announced.

Garrus ducked behind a couch as the gunship let out another burst of fire concentrated on him. He waited a few moments for the attack to stop, readying to jump behind the fortified window ledge.

But, he hesitated one minute too long. The turian jumped, only to be met head on by a rocket fired from the gunship.

"Garrus!" Shepard shouted, watching the turian hit the floor like a stone from the blast.

The gunship pilot let out a fit of gritty laughter.

Rundas, however, was not amused. "Alright, time to end this," the Phrygisian growled, stepping out from cover. His kinetic barriers flared as the gunship fired, but the ice-wielding alien had fortified his shields somehow. When he was within range, Rundas let out two overcharged bursts of cryogenic energy at the gunship. The orbs of freezing energy impacted on the craft's wings, weighing it down and slowing its movement immensely. Rundas then covered the ship's weapons with more ice, rendering them useless.

Samus saw her chance. She sprinted out from cover and charged the ship. She jumped out the window, sailing through the air and onto the gunship. She activated her own omni-blade and stabbed the weapon deep into the craft's mass effect drive. The fighter began to whirr and beep with warnings as it started to fall. Samus leapt back to the window, landing safely inside. The gunship slammed into the side of the building cockpit-first, grating against the side and killing the pilot—who happened to be the Blue Suns' leader—instantly.

Shepard dashed over to Garrus' prone form. While he wanted to congratulate the two, he was only concerned about his probably-dead friend.

The scene was even more grizzly up close. The turian was lying in a pool of his own blood. Half of his face—thankfully facing the floor rather than the eyes of Shepard and his squadmates—had nearly been obliterated. Worse yet, he was not even breathing.

Shepard frowned and began to run scans, hoping that his old friend was somehow still alive.

Suddenly, Garrus' eyes snapped open and he let out a weak gasp for air. Raspy breaths emanated from his injured form.

"Garrus," Shepard announced.

The turian, however, ignored the commander. Instead, he slowly reached for his sniper rifle, ready yet unable to continue the fight which had thankfully ended.

"We need to get him to the med bay now," Samus said, maintaining her usual composure.

Shepard nodded. "Normandy," he radioed in. "We have Archangel. Get Mordin and Chakwas ready. He's going to need a lot of patching up."

"He looks worse than a Sheegoth in the desert," Rundas said in a metaphor utterly lost to the commander.

"Hang in there," Shepard whispered.

* * *

Hours passed as Shepard waited for news from the med bay. When Garrus had been brought back, he was already on the brink of death. Now it was up to Chakwas and Mordin to patch him up. While both were probably the most capable people in the galaxy for dealing with this, Shepard still could not stand the wait.

Eventually, the doors to Shepard's quarters opened. It was Tali.

"Hey, Shepard," she said in a rather solemn tone.

Shepard nodded to her.

"Still worried about Garrus."

Shepard nodded again. "We need him."

"Hard to believe it was him," the quarian replied. "Who would have thought that our old former C-sec officer would wind up as some kind of superhero on Omega?"

Shepard smiled slightly at the comment.

Tali was about to remind Shepard of their plan, but someone else entered the room.

The towering form of Rundas filled the doorway, his wide, protruding shoulders barely passing through the narrow portal.

"Well, I've got good news," the alien announced. "They managed to fix your friends face. Patched him up with some cybernetics. Still not sure if."

Another form pushed past the Phrygisian. Both Shepard and Tali were astonished to find Garrus, looking perfectly fine for being just out of surgery. Save for a plethora of scars and a bandage along the right side of his face, he actually looked to be holding up very well.

"No one would give me a mirror," the turian complained. "Tell me Shepard, how bad does it really look?"

Shepard shook his head. "Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face paint on that and no one will know the difference.

Everyone in the room chuckled a bit.

"Oh, don't make me laugh," Garrus said, "my face is barely holding together as it is. Well, I guess everyone was always ignoring you and hitting on me, this finally gives you a chance."

Shepard laughed and glanced nervously at Tali.

"Well, I'm fit for duty whenever you need me," Garrus continued. "I'll be in the main battery working on those upgrades I recommended. I doubt the guy who installed them could attune them properly. Have to have the magnetic field just right on a thanix, or the whole thing just fizzles out mid-range."

Rundas shook his head and followed the turian out, muttering something about how he was a "tough son of a gun."

The commander smiled and opened a tablet, getting ready to fill out a mission report. He had been falling behind as of late, and Hackett was probably starting to get worried. Joker sometimes would do minimalist versions, but usually the genuine article was best for the Alliance brass.

Tali watched as Shepard began working and nudged him a bit. The commander suddenly remembered why she was here.

"Oh, right," Shepard muttered. Tali shook her head. He did have a reason to forget about their plans, but she still felt ignored either way. "So what do you want to watch?"

Tali had no idea. "What do you think would be good?" she asked.

Shepard shrugged. "I hadn't really considered this," he said. "Too busy getting shot at by three merc groups at once." He got up and walked over to a shelf containing the optical discs on which he stored his downloaded movies.

While the commander sifted through his collection, Tali looked around at the changes he had made to the room. It was much more liveable now, with a TV on one wall and some shelving units added. Most of it was done well, perhaps by Alliance techs after the battle with Sovereign. A new model case had also been added, in which were several models. One was of the Normandy, another of the Citadel. One was actually a statuette of the original Normandy team, Shepard at the lead. Tali even noticed herself standing in the figure. In the corner was a white and blue humanoid robot of some kind, carrying a shield and gun. Tali had no idea where that was from.

Shepard pulled out a disc and slid it into his television. "Not sure how you'll like this one, but it's one of my favorites," he said. "Really, really old though."

Tali raised an eyebrow under her helmet. "How old?" she asked.

"Well, to give you an idea, this is the bicentennial edition," Shepard replied.

The quarian was taken back. The film was one century younger than her species' exile. It was impressive for a film to be remembered a few decades, let alone centuries. Her interest was piqued slightly simply by that fact.

Shepard sat down next to her as the movie began. Several logos of production companies long-since disbanded flashed on the screen, until finally they faded to black. The movie was about to begin.

A thought suddenly entered his head. "Can you read in English?" he asked.

Tali shook her head, not even sure what 'English' was.

Shepard opened a menu with his omni-tool. Luckily enough, he found a translator for his quarian… date. He tapped it, and the film began to supply subtitles in her language so she could read the opening titles. Her audio translator could handle the rest of the film.

Tali read to first opening scroll. Blue letters against a black screen. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…."

"What-?" she began, but was cutoff by a roaring fanfare. An opening crawl featuring the film's logo and plot background slowly began to crawl up a lone starfield. Tali read, slightly confused as to why anyone would open a movie with text. Maybe it was a human thing?

Eventually the crawl ended and the camera panned downward to a view of a planet from low orbit. Suddenly, a strange-looking starship firing red lasers appeared, quickly followed by a much larger, wedge-shaped cruiser firing green weaponry.

At first, Tali was intrigued, but after the introduction of two AI characters, she became rather put off. Eventually, she became lost without characters of relatable species. Many alien races were featured, but none she could recognize. Humans mostly took the center stage, along with the two AI. Once she became sufficiently bored, she turned to Shepard, who was looking back at the report he had been working on, obviously distracted. The quarian shook her head.

"We're not getting anywhere with this," she finally muttered.

Shepard nodded. "Well… I wasn't exactly prepared for a… date… whatever you want to call it."

"I think I might have something better for us to do," Tali said. "Where's your armor?"

"In the locker over there," Shepard said, motioning to the cabinet that contained his combat gear. "Why do you ask?"

Tali opened the locker and pulled out the armor's chestplate and back pieces, setting them down on a nearby table. "Rundas said that your tactical cloak seemed spotty during your first fight with him. I figured I might be able to work on improving it."

"What do you think's wrong?"

Tali shrugged, running a scan on the protective gear with her omni-tool. "I think it might have something to do with the invisibility matrix. It might not be as synchronized… well, I'll save you the technobabble. Basically it's not working as well as it could."

Shepard moved over to the table and began to help Tali as she worked on the cloaking matrix. Eventually, after a long bout of making minute adjustments with her omni-tool, she stood up and said, "That should be good. Try it out."

Shepard activated the armor's cloaking field with his omni-tool. There was a quick electrical shimmer, and then the armor completely disappeared.

"Wow, nice job," Shepard said.

Tali smiled back. "Firgured this might be more productive.

Shepard reached down to pick up the chestplate, but he could not see it and wound up accidentally sliding it off the table. "Crap, where is it?" he asked.

The two began to look for the invisible piece of armor, completely forgetting that Shepard could control it. It eventually reappeared due to cooldown functions, but not after Shepard had tripped over it. Tali giggled as he got up. "Well, never thought you could be too good at your job," Shepard deadpanned. "Well, want to get something to eat? Maybe the cook has something good for dextro-anatomy?"

"Sure," Tali said. And with that, the two left for the mess area.

**Author's Note:** Sorry for taking so dang long with this chapter. I've been really busy. But, Cross Country's finally over with so I have a little more time to work on this story. Plus seeing a few more reviews pop in kind of made me get my crap together and actually finish what little was left with this chapter.

Anyway, Garrus is now back on the team with Shep, but he won't be the last crew member. A few more may join up along the way. However, the next mission's coming from Prime 3. Bryyo, land of schisms and a disrupt natural environment will be the central location of our next chapter, and Ridley and Shepard will finally meet face to face.

As for this one, you're all probably wondering why Garm was overpowered to hell, and to answer, I really have no idea why. I just thought it'd be rather terrifying to have a very hard to kill krogan fight the group, but I even have to admit that he was just a little too over the top. The scene was still fun and cringing to write.

Speaking of writing, I definitely need to try to shorten the later chapters. These are starting to get waaaaaay too long.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll try to get the next one up within a month or so. Again, respond and favorite please. Thanks for reading it so far!


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